The Never Better Syndrome
by 0Life-is-a-Song0
Summary: Roxas counts his steps, locks the door 3 times to be sure, and suffers O.C.D. He hates spontaneous decisions. So why is he agreeing to switch places with his twin brother Sora for a month? That has spontaneous written all over it. And trouble. And Axel.
1. Odd Ball Syndrome

_Haha, this is a just for fun story... I was thinking about it and decided, why not? Besides, I couldn't resist._

_Beware: Yaoi!! And lots of it... :3_

_Multiple pairings :D mainly AkuRoku, SoRiku, and Zemyx... because those are the best ones ever._

Disclaimer- The plot totally is, but the characters aren't... :( I wish.

* * *

It all started with a bet.

I know Sora has a different story, but I'm serious. It all started with a stupid bet that Sora pulled me into, and now I'm in way over my head. Honestly, how did this happen? I can remember coming home from school… Sora on the couch waiting for me… and then BAM! Life completely changed. All from talking to my brother for five minutes. See, that's what happens when you actually pay attention to your family. Bad news, I'm telling you.

This entire situation would have never happened if I'd just kept to my business and Sora had kept to his. I mean, this entire thing is the reason why twins have bad reputations. The Derris and Dennis Lewis brothers? That whole murder caused a terrible reputation for twins everywhere. And then don't forget the Han Twin Murder Conspiracy. Honestly, twins were never meant to get along. They're either exactly alike where it's almost scary, or they're so opposite they were never meant to get along. I mean, look at Sora and me. Completely opposite! But, I digress.

Honestly, I was never a betting kind of guy. I have taken AP statistics… I understand the ups and downs of probability and that gambling hardly ever has a good probability of actually ending the way the gambler wants it to end. If I was as smart as my GPA said I was, I would have never taken the bet, and I would have never gotten into the mess that I managed to land myself in.

But you don't know about that.

That's why I'm here. I'm kind of tired of all of this building up, and I think people should understand what exactly is going on. Maybe then you won't see us in the hallways and think we're completely crazy? I'm not crazy. I just had a lapse of judgment.

It happens.

You don't have an idea about what's going on, do you? No, you don't. No one seems to understand where I'm coming from. How did I go from straight A student who takes AP college courses and valedictorian to this?! But, I'm getting way ahead of myself. You don't know what this is, do you? No. I haven't told you what it is yet. I'll get to that somehow… I just have to collect my thoughts.

Fat chance of that happening.

I usually am much more organized than this. I actually have this folder with tabs for each day of the week, and then sub-categories for each period class so that I don't forget which days the teacher hands out what, and…

And you don't want to hear that. You're probably waiting for me to explain about the bet. Fine, I'll tell you how my life spontaneously combusted. I'll let you in on all the dirty little secrets about it that made it what it is today. I'm telling you, it isn't pretty.

Here's to the day my life changed forever. Whether for good or bad, I haven't decided yet.

* * *

Sora:

You know, I've never had a problem with being the oddball of my family. I'm the morning person of the family, and I'm the self proclaimed idiot. I'm the only one out of the Strife family with brown hair, and I'm the one who likes baking odd things for breakfast when everyone's still fast asleep. Call me creepy since I like being the only one awake (it's a habit I've never quite been able to break) but it gives me time to think about what I'm going to do for the day.

"Sora, are you going to clean up after yourself this time?"

Or… what I'm not going to do for the day.

Cloud suddenly walked into the kitchen and reached around my mess of attempted brownies, snagging a plain bagel and ignoring the iced chocolate that was closer. Pouting up at him I handed him my delectable treat but he ignored it and began eating the untoasted monstrosity without batting an eyelash at me. Pretending I didn't hear the underlying statement that the kitchen was a mess, I stepped around the egg shell on the floor and plomped myself into a seat, delicious brownie in hand. It would be devoured unmercifully.

"Sora, did you finish that project for your history class?" Naminé quietly walked into the kitchen and also ignored my offerings of brownies and icing, her dainty little hand grabbing an apple instead and turning away from the proffered snack. Crushed at her rejection I set the plate down at stared morosely at the deserts that no one but I would eat. Curse them and their health conscientiousness…

Wait… I had a project due?!

"What?!" I jumped up from the table and glanced around the room, panicked eyes falling onto the poster board that was half done. Well, not even. I think I got around to putting my name on it and doing an outline on the edges, but that was about it. Can you blame me? The teacher assigns us a project and gives us two months to do it… you'd get bored too! Naminé laughed quietly as I jumped up and ran over to the board, picking it up and opening it. Sure enough, the tri-fold opened to reveal… the outline around the edges and my name at the bottom.

"What's your excuse this time?" Cloud asked curiously as I let out a strangled cry and dropped the board, rushing across the room to pull out my history book. All of my papers were jammed in between the actual pages in the text, and with a panicked purpose I sifted through them, pulling out the project assignment paper and staring in shock at the due date.

Monday. Today. I was so dead.

"He'll probably say something about a family member being in the hospital." Naminé replied for me as I rushed back into the kitchen and slammed the board onto the table, ignoring the brownie dish as it was pushed off of the table and onto a chair.

"He used that one last year… said a distant uncle had mad cow." Cloud quietly replied as I took a bunch of paper from my book bag and the Elmer's glue, squirting globs onto the board and stamping the papers down in a mad frenzy. Hopefully my teacher wouldn't notice the sporadic organization… she did say half of it was from creativity anyway…

"Oh, that's right. Maybe this time he'll have mad cow?" Naminé looked over at me expectantly but I was busy trying to get the glue off of my hand that I'd somehow managed to get on. How did I do that? Panicked, I grabbed the uneaten part of Cloud's bagel and wiped the mess off, reaching across to stick another paper onto the board. Cloud made a sound in the back of his throat as he snatched the bagel back, but before he took a bite he realized what I'd done and then promptly threw it towards the trashcan with another growl in the back of his throat. I was so dead.

"He has some sort of mad disease." Cloud agreed angrily as he stood up and stomped back to the bagel bag where he grabbed another one. Naminé finished her apple and tossed the core out, giving me a slightly apologetic look before walking up the stairs to go and get ready. As I smoothed out the edges to the crinkled papers I slapped the last one on the board and smiled in relief as I closed the tri-fold up and tossed it next to my bag, successfully completing my soon-to-be-F.

All in a day's work.

Breathing a sigh of relief I reached down and around the table, grabbing another brownie from the plate as I walked back into the living room and looked up at the clock. I had thirty minutes before I had to go to school, so it was definitely time for cram-study.

Yeah… Spongebob sounded good.

"Sora, turn that off; you know we can't afford cable." As I turned it onto the specified channel Cloud walked into the living room and grabbed the remote, turning off the TV and looking me over with a skeptical gaze that always made me nervous. Though he worked part time he also went to college with a military scholarship. He was used to uniforms being in tip top shape, and sadly… mine wasn't. You can't blame me really; I wasn't going into the military!

"Sora… why aren't you more like Roxas?" Cloud asked quietly as he motioned to my tie that wasn't yet tied all the way. Glancing down I noticed that my shirt was a little wrinkled, but in my defense it was on the floor when I'd put it on, so of course it would be wrinkled. My shoes were untied but they were always like that; it took too long to tie them.

Wait… Roxas…

"Did anyone wake Roxas up?" I asked Cloud, ignoring his earlier question. He always asked me that in the mornings because of my disheveled appearance versus my twin's impeccable one. Seriously though, someone had to make up for that kid's perfection. I was the balance that kept everything stable. Without me, there would be too much perfection going on in the house. And that no one wanted to see!

"No, I didn't. Did you?" We looked at each other for a grant total of ten seconds before I burst into action. Running up the stairs I skidded into the hallway and raced down said hallway, reaching Roxas's door and knocking loudly, chirping brightly as I did so.

"Roxas!!! Roxas, it's time to face the day!!! ROXAS!!!!!" Hmm… no answer. Opening the door I looked into the room to see everything in perfect order and pristine cleanliness, the exact opposite of mine. Frowning at the lack of a twin in the room, I turned around to leave and then promptly ran into said twin. Giving a loud _oomph!_ I fell back onto the floor and peered up at my put-together brother, Roxas.

He stared down at me incredulously with an eyebrow raised to his messy bangs as he held a hand out to help me up. Perkily I jumped up to greet him, smiling brightly as he gave me a scathing glare in return. No, Roxas was definitely not a morning person. That specific glare was reserved for mornings only.

"Who made the mess downstairs?" Roxas asked in his usual tone, stepping around me as he walked into the room to grab his things. I followed him as he did so, jumping onto his already made bed and bouncing on it for good measure.

"Oh, I did. I made brownies; Cloud and Naminé didn't want any, so you can have one if you want." I smiled and turned on his radio as he gathered his AP books and binders, stuffing them into a book bag that was already full of other stuff. Roxas always did seem to be tied down to everything. I wonder why? Maybe if he didn't take so many classes he wouldn't seem so stressful. I hardly took any advanced classes, and I was already stressed about a project! Who assigns those anyway?

As Roxas shouldered his bag he looked at my clothing with a critical eye before he stepped up and fixed my tie, straightening it and smoothening it down without having to tell me anything. That's how he was though. Roxas didn't really talk and when he did it was usually biting and sarcastic. I don't think he meant to be rude, but it was just how he was. Ever since… well, it was just how he was. Smiling in thanks I followed him out of his room and clicked the light off, ignoring the way it made the room look bleak and unused. Did he really like living like that?

"Your project's due today." Roxas reminded me dully as he descended the stairs and set his book bag down. I followed him into the kitchen where he skirted the mess where I'd made brownies and sat down at the table, absentmindedly grabbing a brownie from the plate and biting into it slowly as he nodded a good morning to Naminé . She was fully dressed now and had her hair combed into its usual style.

"He finished it this morning. Naminé assured Roxas in her laid back, soft voice. Exasperated, I glanced between the two of them, realizing something.

I was the only morning person. Sad, isn't it? Four siblings, and only one of us liked to wake up early!

Disgruntled, I walked back into the front room where Cloud was watching the news and tying up his own tie. He was dressed smartly in some sort of service uniform for his military class, the olive green and tan matching his skin tone, but not his eyes. Cloud had the Strife family eyes, the same blue color as the rest of us. Grinning eagerly I rushed over and helped him smooth out the non-existent wrinkles he always tried to get rid of. It always confused me though; how do you get rid of wrinkles that aren't there?

"The kitchen needs cleaning when you get home." Cloud said as he added a tie clip that was shiny and brass colored.

"I'll get it done tonight." I vowed brightly and looked back into the kitchen where the bowls, spoons, flour, sugar and chocolate coalesced together in one big mass near the stove. Oh… I made that mess? Blinking for a moment I turned back to Cloud, plastering a smile on my face.

"Roxas said he'd help." I informed him, chancing a glance back to the chair where Roxas had been sitting, only to find that he wasn't there. Confused, I turned all the way around and saw Naminé calmly putting her things together so that we could leave for school, but no Roxas. Where did he go!?

"I'll do no such thing." Roxas's voice appeared by my side and I jumped, letting out a rather pitiful squeak of surprise as I did so. How did he manage to do that? I've never been able to sneak up on people. I've always wanted to… but it's just something I can't accomplish. Another odd man out thing with my family… all the others can do it…

Yeah, I was definitely the oddball of my family.

* * *

Roxas:

I'm most definitely not a morning person. There's no doubt about it. There's nothing about the morning that I find appealing, and it's a waste of time to get up for it. Then, there's sleeping. Now sleeping I can work with. It's one of the best things about life, really.

"Who's ready for the day?!"

And then… there's Sora.

You'd think that with us being twins we'd be at least a little bit alike. I mean, sure we look alike, I suppose. We have the same facial structure, same mouth and eyes, and the same build. Our hair is different though; he has a shock of chocolate brown hair that spiked off of his head like he had been electrocuted, and I was just a simple blond with hair that no matter what I did I couldn't contain. Our voices were similar, his a bit happier though. If I tried to sound happy maybe I'd sound like him, but I didn't want to try.

What can I say? He's more athletic and I'm more inclined to books. He does track and swimming and I make trips to the library. He had a lot of friends… and I have one or two. Not that I'm complaining, I'm just saying we're different. Do I love him? Yes. I don't know what I'd do without that kid running around in the mornings and waking me up with his unnecessary banging in the kitchen as he made brownies. Which are really good, by the way. They're chocolaty and gooey without being uncooked. They're not burnt on the edges either.

Oh, anyway…

"Come on, Sora, let's get going." We began our trek to school Sora chattering to Naminé and I as I half listened and Naminé nodded politely along with his words. We walked to school because the school was a block away from our house and it didn't make sense to me to get on a bus with screaming, yelling, idiotic children.

Sora would have loved that.

"… and so I told Axel that I might have a birthday party, but only if Roxas wanted it. He said he'd make a big party with lots of people invited, just to spite Roxas, but I put my foot down this time, Naminé!"

"Oh, did you really?" Naminé supplied quietly as she smiled softly.

"I told him he'd have to talk to Roxas if he wanted a party, so I guess there won't be one!" Sora's face fell as he said that, and it was then that I realized who he was talking about.

"Wait, Axel said he wanted to throw you a party? Absolutely not, Sora. That kid is bad news I'm telling you." I felt anger in the back of my mouth and I resisted the urge to spit. Axel. If I ever had an arch-nemesis you could bet that he'd be able to fill the spot. He was one of Sora's friends, and a terrible influence. Sora used to really care about his studies, and now he doesn't. All because of Axel. That guy smokes and drinks and parties and I wouldn't put it past him to do drugs. I told Sora that a million times, but all the kid did was stare at me with big eyes and exclaim, "Roxas, that's not fair! You'd smoke too if you had the problems he did!" His problem? Fighting off his drinking problem. In order not to drink, he smokes. One bad habit for another. I didn't want to break his heart and point out that both were bad habits, so I let it drop.

"Oh, come on Roxas, it wouldn't be what you think! It'd just have our friends and cake and presents!" Sora laughed excitedly at the idea but I wasn't won over so easily. Drinks would be spiked, presents half assed, and then random people we didn't know would show up. Cops would come in and arrest us, and Cloud wouldn't bail us out of jail. He wasn't nice like that.

"And Axel hasn't come up to me to talk about it, so the answer's no." I replied evenly, curling my lip at the idea of that monstrosity actually planning a party for my brother.

"He probably knows what the answer would be, so he didn't bother trying to ask." Naminé suggested quietly, giving me a knowing look as I studiously avoided her gaze. Sora hadn't kept it a secret that I didn't like Axel, and Axel didn't keep it a secret that he didn't like me. We'd never met face to face before, but I was sure I could recognize a failure like him a mile away.

"Well Marluxia and Larxene broke up, so now Larxene is on the move and Marluxia is talking about her to everyone! Oh when Demyx heard about it he got so mad! I don't know why though, he broke up with his boyfriend and now that I think about it, he always did have his eye on Marluxia but he knew that Larxene and him just go together." Sora smiled and waved his hands as he talked, bright and excited about getting to see his friends. Personally, I thought his friends were a little crazy, but wasn't Sora as well?

We reached the school quickly and that was where we'd part ways. The school was divided into two parts, the "smart" side and the "dumb" side. It was really divided into normal classes on the left wing of the school and advanced classes on the right wing, but you get the idea. The middle was connected the long string of lockers and the cafeteria/ commons area where people would hang out. Naminé and I would go to the right whereas Sora would go to the left. Outside I could see his group of friends, their shouting and laughing riling my nerves up for no real reason; I guess it was because I just really didn't like his friends. Bad influences, the lot of them. Why did he stoop so low as to hang out with them? Sora rushed over to them before I could say anything though, so I let it go.

We walked down the hallway quietly as we reached our wing of the school, everything peaceful and laid back. A couple of people littered the hallways, talking and joking but it was mostly quiet, something I'd grown to appreciate. Honestly, school was for learning. Learning was just the ticket to getting out of Twilight Town. The faster you passed, the faster you got out of the small town that wasn't marked on some maps.

"Hey Roxas!" I gritted my teeth and continued walking Naminé to her first period, hoping that the girl that had called my name didn't want a response.

"Selphi said your name." Naminé informed me quietly, and I nodded in response, no desire to respond to her statement. Why didn't these people realize I didn't want to talk to them? As I gave Naminé a hug goodbye I walked down the hall to my first period class, AP chemistry.

"Hey Roxas, you do the homework?" I brushed past Yuna and her group, shrugging as an answer as I made my way to my lab table that had what few friends I had. Zexion's nose was in a book as I sat down next to him, and Fuu was absentmindedly staring out of the window. Setting my books down onto the table I pulled my homework out and my sketchbook as well, doodling absentmindedly as I waited for the bell to ring.

"Riku?" Fuu asked curiously, facing me with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged non-committedly and continued doodling, nudging Zexion to inform him he was the one to answer, not me.

"He'll be late today. He had a run in with the office." Zexion answered as he turned the page of the book he was currently reading. Fuu nodded and turned back to the window, light purple/blue hair covering most of her face. I continued to draw but nodded all the same. Riku's credits were messed up for some reason and had been trying to get them fixed but the office couldn't find his tenth grade class credits. How they mysteriously disappeared I don't know, but it was enough to cause all of his older brothers to come rushing to the scene. I don't know much about his family but I do know that his older quadruplet brothers were a terrifying thing to behold when they're riled up.

"Roxas!" I felt someone come up from behind me and hug me tightly, their light perfume washing over me and making me cough as they attacked. Her voice was smooth and clipped, and it didn't take me long to realize who it was.

"Hey Lulu." I replied dully as she pulled a chair up to our table and sat down next to me. Lulu was a walking, talking, breathing contradiction. She dressed in gothic Lolita dresses, kept her makeup dark and smoky, and listened to musicians who's screaming voices could be heard even if she turned it down to the lowest decibel. She also was a very happy girl who sometimes skipped around from place to place and loved lots of manga. Make her angry though… and she snapped. It didn't help that she got angry very, very easily. Her pale face peered up at me with a smirk plastered across it, and she pushed her thick black bangs to one side of her face.

"So I saw your brother with Axel and the regulars again. Didn't you tell him to stay away from them?" She tilted her head quizzically at me and raised an eyebrow, ignoring the sound of annoyance that Zexion gave as she spoke. Though she wasn't my friend, she hung out with me no matter what I did, and I'd grown to just accept it, but Zexion would never accept it. He hated her just that much.

I gave a grunt in return and continued to doodle on my sketch paper, hoping she'd get the hint and stop talking.

"But honestly, I don't know why you care so much, Axel's not that bad. He hangs with my friends Yuna and Paine and they're still straight laced." She tapped her chin thoughtfully and shrugged, grabbing her lacy Lolita purse and peering into it before pulling something out. "Besides, he's hot." She shoved a picture towards my face of a small group of kids, but I pushed it away, not wanting to see whatever she had to show me.

"Why would you have a picture of him in your purse?" I asked her tonelessly as the bell rang. Our teacher walked in and slammed his briefcase on the desk sourly before jabbing a finger at the board and walking into his back office. Grabbing a sheet of paper I began the warm-up.

Lulu's eyes sparkled deviously. "The question is, why don't you have a picture of him in your purse?" She laughed darkly and grabbed a paper from my binder, copying down the warm-up in a loopy cursive I secretly wanted to learn how to do.

"Roxas doesn't have a purse." Zexion snapped as he closed his book and began the warm-up as well, sending her a scathing glare from beneath his bangs. He too only had one eye visible, much to my surprise. What was with everyone hiding one of their eyes? Looking over at Fuu, I saw that one of her eyes was also covered. What the hell? Without thinking, I reached up and pulled one of my messy bangs down, trying to cover one of my eyes too.

"Yeah cause he's not a flamer like you." Lulu shot back, grabbing my pencil and erasing something from her paper before sending a burning glare towards Zexion. I hunkered away from their brawl, disinterested.

"Problems with flamers?" Fuu asked curiously, glancing up from her work. Lulu smiled thinly and laughed.

"No, just this one." She sweetly replied. Instead of retorting with something biting, Zexion grabbed his book and opened it back up, his glare burning the pages. Ok, not really, but it was seriously a really impressive glare. An 8.9 almost. Though no one else could see because of his bangs, I saw the small smile that threatened to show through. Though Zexion hated Lulu, I was positive he kind of liked her and retaliated by hating her.

"Today we're reviewing for the exams coming up in a few weeks. Pass up your chapter outlines and we'll begin with this packet of work. Kairi, pass it out." Our teacher looked over at our table and he smiled sourly. "Though I'm sure you'll all do well, I'd suggest that if you have any problems, please hesitate to ask me. Roxas will be more than happy to help." I stared at him in blank horror, my face hiding the disgust that was welling up in me as my teacher winked and walked back into the back room. Kairi passed out the packets and smiled at me as well.

"Can I get some help, Roxas?" She asked kindly, settling the thick paper onto my book. Recoiling at the idea of helping the idiots in my class, I opened my mouth to decline.

"Of course he'll help!" Lulu said brightly, her smirk growing as I shot her a dark look. Kairi smiled and rushed back to get her things from her desk, motioning for her friends to follow her over to where I was sitting.

"What the hell was that for?!" I snarled angrily, grabbing the packet and looking at it morosely. I hated helping these kids. I didn't have the patience for it, and I never knew how to explain it. People always looked at me funny or like they were scared of me whenever they talked to me, so I don't really know how to handle them.

Also… I might be… well, you know… just a little bit… shy? Not that I'd admit that out loud, so forget I even told you.

Forgotten? Good.

"You need to make more friends." Lulu informed me as she patted down her dress and crossed her legs. Glowering, I glanced helplessly at Zexion and Fuu, but they didn't come to my rescue. Fuu worked silently on the packet and Zexion continued to read his book, merely glancing up distastefully as Kairi's group of friends arrived.

"I don't want- you don't think I- I have friends!" I defended myself as I gestured to where my excuse for friends did their own thing and let me argue with the girl who claimed to be my friend. Didn't she care that I didn't want to talk to these people!?  
"They're hardly your friends. Zexion's been to your house what, three times? And Fuu hardly says a word to you guys, no offense, dear." Fuu shrugged and continued working, not caring that Lulu told the truth.

"Yes, but that's what a friend is to me. I don't want these-" I turned a helpless glare towards the girls that were talking animatedly in front of me. "People disrupting my work!" Lulu shrugged and sent a smile towards Tifa and Aerith who awkwardly saw my predicament.

"So help them and they'll leave." She advised me, smirk still intact. Glaring over at her I let out a frustrated sigh and opened the packet, kicking Zexion's chair as he chuckled under his breath.

Today was going to be a long, long day.

* * *

Sora:

I ran over to my group, excited to see Marluxia and Larxene sitting next to each other without hurting each other. Honestly, I didn't get their relationship, but they seemed to like it just fine. They were always off and on. When they were off they were at each other's throat's with daggers, and when they were on they were at each other's throats with a different object of obsession… yeah… anyway, it was apparent that they were on. His arm was draped around her shoulder and she had a hand resting on his leg, fingers tapping to the beat from the head phones that they were sharing. Wait, sharing?! Since when did they share anything?!

"Oh how cute!" I exclaimed as I waved at them and plopped down next to Marluxia. He sent me a dark look but I simply smiled back. Kill them with kindness, that's what Naminé told me.

"Sora!" I was bombarded with a heaping pile of Demyx as he tackled me and huggled me tightly. Laughing I flailed around as he righted himself and hid behind me, mock trembling in fear. Peering around I saw the object of his fear. Axel was walked towards us with a purpose, green eyes glinting dangerously.

"What did you do?!" I exclaimed and tried to wriggle away. Demyx held on tightly though, refusing to release me from the strangle-hold he had. Wide-eyed I fearfully watched Axel loom over us, cracking his knuckles and menacingly glaring.

"Demyx," He said slowly, rolling his neck and shaking his shoulders slightly. "Give me back my cigarettes." He said each word slowly and clearly, eyes narrowed as Demyx hunkered down even more behind me. I held up my hands innocently, hoping he'd see I was the reluctant shield.

"They're going to kill you!" Demyx shouted from behind me. Axel rolled his eyes.

"Death will get us all eventually. All I want is-" his speech broke off as Demyx ran out from behind me and took off at a sprint. Axel followed behind him easily, accidently pushing me and causing me to sprawl over the bench where Larxene watched the entire episode with glittering eyes.

"You ok?" She asked me in a hopeful tone, leaning up to peer over at me. Laughing I nodded and reached into my book bag for the item that would end the whole problem.

"Damn," She muttered, shrinking into her seat. Marluxia laughed at her disappointment and tried to console her, but she punched him in response. Pulling out the lifesaver of the day, walked over to where Axel and Demyx were currently wrestling on the ground for his cigarettes.

"Dem, just give me the stupid-"

"NO!"

"Don't make a scene, just –"

"NO!"

"It's only-"

"NO!"

"CAN YOU SAY ANYTHING OTHER THAN NO!?"

"NO!"

"Who wants brownies?!" I shouted to them, holding up the plastic plateful of ooey gooey goodness. Both parties froze and stared at my treats, slack jawed and hunger-lust in their eyes. Shaking the brownies tantalizingly in front of them I slowly walked back to the bench, relieved when Axel released Demyx from his strangle hold and let the blonde boy fall back onto the ground. Demyx scrambled up and they both made it over to me with hunger plain on their faces. Removing the plastic top I offered them some, and each grabbed two and shoved them into their mouths. Demyx made a slight moan in the back of his mouth and fell onto the bench next to Marluxia, draping an arm around him and ignoring the glare sent his way.

"Your cooking skills are… aaaah…" Demyx sighed and bit into the second brownie. Axel grunted his agreement and finished off his before reaching around to grab a third.

"Oh no you don't!" I jumped away and put the plastic back on top. "Some of these are for Roxas if he comes to lunch with us today." I informed them and pushed the brownies back into my bag. Axel gave a great snort behind me and Demyx shook his head slowly.

"Sora, he never comes to lunch, no matter how many times you offer." Axel said this to me slowly like I wouldn't understand it if he said it any faster. I probably wouldn't have... but that's beside the point!!

"I know, but he might today." I said brightly and grabbed my bag as the bell rang. Our first period teacher wouldn't care if we were late; she was the art teacher and just wanted our assignments by the end of class. I think her thought was it was better than us now showing up at all. It was art class afterall... who cared about art class? Well, probably Naminé but that was beside the point! Axel swung his bag over his shoulder and Demyx followed us as we talked. Marluxia and Larxene had a different class, so they stayed behind, probably not planning on going at all.

"You say that everyday, and everyday he says he's eating lunch with his friends. Does he even have friends?!" Axel exclaimed. I nodded in defense of Roxas as Axel snorted in disbelief. My nodding slowed as Demyx asked cluelessly, "Who're his friends?"

"Well… there's that boy, Zexion." I held up my fingers to tick off the names. "Well, they get along and what not, but I didn't really hear him talk much… um, then I think that girl, Fuu-"

"The one with the purple/blue hair?" Axel asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I saw them talking once… well, she said one word and Roxas nodded… uh, that kid with the silver hair on track team-"

"Don't they just have friendly competition?" Demyx asked me, breaking my third attempt at showing he has friends. I glowered pitifully and Demyx winced at my pathetic attempt at looking fearsome.

"Well, yeah, but they're friends… I think. I mean, he's just not the type to make- wait! That girl, the girl with the Lolita style-"

"The one that scares the living daylights out of anyone who pisses her off?" Axel supplied as Demyx shuddered in fear.

"Yeah! I saw them in the hall together… wait, no, she was following him around…" I stumbled to a stop as it hit me; my brother didn't really have friends. Axel paused next to me and raised an eyebrow, but Demyx kept walking, not noticing my epiphany.

"Sora…?" Axel ran a hand through his really big hair and frowned. I blindly looked up at the red spikes, confused. How did he get his hair like that? He must use a bottleful of gel everyday for it to shoot up like that and stay there all day. And if he did, how much money did it take? I'm pretty sure the guy lost a fortune on gelling products because of his hair being so big. He'd probably given up his college fund for gel just so that his hair would remain all spiky and random like that. If it rained would he look like a drowned cat? Would the gel goop off of his hair? Oh, that would be gross…

Wait, we were talking about my brother.

"My brother doesn't have any friends." I told him with a frown, mind back on the topic at hand. It was true though; Roxas only had Zexion over a few times, and they worked on school stuff. That Lulu girl was almost always with him but he didn't seem to like it. Actually, at school whenever I did see him he seemed to have a permanent unfriendly frown on his face. I didn't see him all that much though... the right wing students and the left wing students lead completely different lives. The two types of students didn't really talk to one another, and the only time to actually associate with each other was lunch.... which my brother avoided like the plague.

"Has he ever had friends?" Axel asked in a sarcastic tone. I frowned and nodded slowly as we began to walk again, stepping up the stairs to art class.

"Yes, he used to have a lot of friends. A few years ago, back in middle school…" I frowned and thought back to when we used to hang out all of the time together, our hobbies almost the exact same. I think I knew why he was like that, but I didn't want to say. Axel knew about it but didn't ask me about it, and for that I was grateful. It wasn't easy to talk about.

"Well if he's changed for the worse you can't fix it, Sora." Axel advised me wisely, rubbing the upside-down tear drop under his eye, a sign that he was agitated. "If he wants to be miserable you should just let him."

"But that's not what twins are for!" I shook my head and gave him a disapproving glance that he knew wasn't real. Sure enough I couldn't hold back the smile that took over.

"Has he talked to you at all lately?" Axel asked after a few moments of silence. I shook my head, debating whether or not to tell the truth. Axel didn't like how Roxas would ignore me, but he didn't know that that was just how Roxas was. Roxas didn't talk a lot, and he focused more on school than anything else in the world. He was a really, really shy guy and when he was gruff it was because he was embarrassed. A lot of kids here thought he was an ass, but that was because they didn't know him. He didn't show emotions well, but he did care about me. He just didn't know how to show it.

"We talked a little bit this morning… you know, about the birthday party." I hoped that he wouldn't see the way I stepped around it. Yes, we did talk about the birthday party… no, it wasn't an actual conversation. We walked into the art room and slipped into the chairs at the back table, nodding to Demyx who was leaning over the table and talking to someone in the row in front of us. The assignment was on the board and was due the next class period, so Axel and I kept our stuff put up, knowing we weren't going to do it. I had to accept it; I sucked at art. Naminé and Roxas were amazing at that stuff, but Cloud and I… well, lacked in that department.

"And what did he say?" I shrugged, trying to look casual.

"He doesn't… like the idea of big parties…" I hedged, still telling the truth. It wasn't a lie that Roxas didn't like big parties, but that wasn't his actual answer. Axel gave me a dubious stare, but let it drop. He knew I was defensive of my brother, and even though he didn't like him, he knew it would make me upset to talk about him.

"…And so now he doesn't have his cigarettes!" Demyx's conversation caught my attention and I looked over where Pence and Olette listened with laughter on their face. Axel muttered a curse under his breath and grabbed Demyx by the back of his jacket, yanking him onto his chair with a snarl.

"Will you shut up about that?!" He grumbled, rubbing his tattoo again. Axel had gotten in trouble for having cigarettes in school a few weeks ago, and didn't want the principal finding out again. But why would he care? Axel had a reserved seat in the principal's office, why should he care whether or not people heard? Demyx just laughed though and raised his eyebrows.

"Oh don't be a spoilsport Axie! You might get them back." Demyx giggled maniacally and rubbed his hands together, darkly staring at my slightly scared expression and Axel's amused one. Wait, his amused one? He should be mad that Demyx stole his stuff!

"I think I already did." Axel said with a black chuckle, hand opening to reveal the packet he'd been fighting for earlier. Demyx's eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped in shock. He patted his pockets in disbelief before looking up at Axel with a narrowed eyed glare.

"Give them back." Demyx growled non-threateningly, popping his knuckles the same way Axel had. Axel stood up slowly, smirking and holding the object of Demyx's anger.

"Over my dead body." Axel goaded, standing up slowly. Backing away from Demyx he winked at me and then turned his attention back to a glowering Demyx.

"That can be arranged!" Demyx suddenly gave a very loud and attention grabbing war cry, springing from the chair and launching himself at the much taller and stronger red head. People turned to watch them race back and forth in the back of the art room, their eyes rolling as they saw who it was. I watched with amusement, rolling back and laughing as Demyx tackled Axel and scrambled for the bane of Axel's existence. I don't think he could go without cigarettes for a day. That would suck though… was a addicted to anything? Hmm… I could be addicted to brownies… I mean, if I don't have one during lunch time I'll probably go crazy… but don't people already call me crazy? Maybe I was addicted to wearing these big yellow shoes… I don't think I could ever give them up. When Roxas almost threw them out once… ah, I remember when-

"SORA!" I jumped and promptly fell out of my chair as Axel and Demyx came crashing into our table, landing heavily on top of me and tipping the other chairs over too. Axel was trying to get away, laughing and taunting Demyx who struggled to reach the pack that was just out of his arm length.

"Get it, Sora!" Demyx cried out as Axel pushed his head away and then, without noticing, dropped the pack onto my chest. Pushing through the tangle of arms and legs I pocketed the object of Demyx's panicked, spazzy rage and watched as they began wrestling again.

"Boys… can we please keep that sort of thing outside?" Mrs. Megora watched us with an eyebrow raised, and because they couldn't hear her over their shouting and what not, I decided to reply for them.

"Of course!" I exclaimed, kicking Axel and Demyx for good measure when she folded her arms and waited for us to stop. As they did they looked up at her and smiled innocently she rolled her eyes and sauntered back to her seat, motioning for everyone else to continue working.

Yeah… all in a day's work.

* * *

_Hit or miss? Let me know in a review!_


	2. Stick Up the Ass Syndrome

_Thanks for all of the reviews guys! I appreciate what everyone had to say. Yes, he shall be the one to remove the figurative stick out of Roxy's ass... but that comes later :D_

_Sorry it's taken a week, as mentioned in my other story, Adrenaline, I was at girl's camp all of last week, and I'm way happy to be back! I love civilization!_

_Anywho, on with the story then!_

* * *

Roxas:

As lunch time grew closer I grew crabbier. I honestly didn't mind lunch per say… it was what happened every time lunch came around. At Destiny High School not only were there two wings with two very different types of students, there were also two lunch rooms. The first one was the regular one that almost everyone went to. The second one was the one I ate in, a small room in the back of the library reserved for AP students. I'd get my lunch and anyone who followed me around sat back there with me, talking and trying to get me to talk to.

But I digress.

Every time lunch comes around Sora would find me in the small hallway between the two wings and invite me to eat with his friends. He would always look so innocent and excited as if he expected me to say yes, and I would always say no. I hated the idea of eating with his friends and pretending to enjoy it. I didn't like them and I had no desire to pretend to. Besides, what would I say? Sora and I didn't have anything in common. Sometimes it felt like he was doing it out of charity instead of because he actually wanted me to. Sora was just a nice guy like that. Didn't matter if he didn't like someone or not, he always was nice and joking with them. I'd see him like that in the hallways sometimes…

Once again… off topic. I do that a lot…

So today wasn't any different. I was walking down the hallway with Zexion and Lulu in tow, Lulu chattering in my ear about this, that and the other and Zexion was reading, staying behind me so that he didn't have to watch where he was going. I never understood his obsession with reading, but I remember him once mentioning that it was nice to get away from the world he was stuck in and visit another place for awhile.

"But you definitely need to have a birthday party; I think it would be nice…"

Yeah, it would be nice to visit somewhere else for a little while.

"I don't like parties." I grouched as I reached my locker and settled my AP History book next to the AP chemistry. Grabbing my AP calculus book and my AP art portfolio I slammed the locker shut and turned to face the still smirking Lulu. She always looked like that. It was like she knew something no one else did, and it made her face permanently frozen in a know-it-all grin.

"So…? It would give you a chance to meet new people." Lulu ignored my scathing glare at that idea and continued to describe how she would decorate the place, saying something about lots and lots of lace and chains.

… Don't ask…

"He doesn't want to meet new people." Zexion observed quietly behind me, stepping to the side and leaning against the locker as Lulu fiddled with her own locker that was next to mine. Why was it next to mine? She switched with the girl who used to have a locker next to mine (I believe there was a lot of threatening involved and the girl has amnesia) and now enjoys pestering me whenever I got by my locker since hers is right here. Now she has an "excuse".

"I get that, kiddo, but it's good for him." Lulu closed her locker and shifted her books to her hip as she assessed me with narrowed eyes. Lulu was cute in an unconventional way with pale skin and strangely golden eyes that were either narrowed in anger or narrowed in thought. She wouldn't have looked so gaunt if she didn't have some sort of purplish lipstick that she applied on the inner parts of her lips so that she looked cold, but that's just what she did. She had once told me that her eyes were actually really gold, but I didn't care enough to find out if it was true.

"I have enough friends." I snapped and turned to look down the hallway where I hoped Sora wouldn't appear. If he did, he'd ask me and I'd have to let him down and say no.

"You have one friend and that's me." Lulu informed me as she clucked her tongue impatiently and grabbed my shoulder, pushing me towards the library and our convenient lunch room. Zexion snapped his book closed in agitation and made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat, Lulu glancing back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Problems?" She asked sweetly, not troubled when I shook her arm off of my shoulder. I hated it when she did that… it was like she thought she owned me or something. And then people got thoughts, and I didn't want that.

"You think you are his friend?" Zexion asked scathingly, making me snort under my breath.

"His one and only." She retorted evenly turning to look at me with a smirk. "Aren't I, Roxas?" Uneasily I looked at her and then at Zexion, eyes begging for help. He shook his hair from his eyes and merely smirked, waiting for me to shake her off.

"Zexion's always been a friend of mine, whether we act like it or not." I informed her, trying to get away from the fact I hadn't answered her question. Zexion nodded in approval at my politically correct response before he shot Lulu a dirty look and opened his book again, thumbing back to the page he'd been on earlier. Lulu didn't seem alarmed at my response though; if anything it made her cruelly amused.

"Your rude disposition is what makes me seem much nicer than I really am. You make me look good." She informed me with a dark laugh I didn't like. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if that was the reason she actually hung out with me. I wouldn't mind if she left me alone, hell, I'd welcome that more, but I knew she wouldn't take offense if I told her to screw off, so I was stuck. She'd take it as a challenge and hang out with me even more. A mental image of her coming over to my house to meet my family surfaced in my mind, and I shuddered.

"It's true though… is Fuu even really a friend of yours?" Lulu asked me as we turned reached the door that would lead me to the library.

"She's just an-"

"ROXAS!" I winced as I heard the very familiar voice echoing down the hallway, and I gave Zexion "the look" before facing my overly excited brother. Behind me, Zexion had grabbed Lulu and drug her into the library, successfully barring that woman from ever damaging Sora with her strange ways. I'd have to check out a book for him to read later. Damn him and his ever sporadic good deeds.

"Hey Sora." I replied evenly, bracing myself for the question that always managed to get underneath my skin. I don't think he even knew it made me feel guilty to say no, but it did. It always made me feel guilty.

"How was class?" He asked me curiously, rocking up and down on the balls of his feet. I glanced up to see that thankfully no one had seen us and tried to talk. The hallways were almost totally devoid of students and no teachers were around. People really didn't know that I had a twin and it was something I didn't like people knowing about. Call it weird or mean, but if they found out I had a twin they would bother him the same way they bothered me, or they would expect us to be the exact same. It would be a big mess and I didn't want Sora to deal with that. He had enough on his plate with everything going on at home; he didn't need any more trouble.

"It was… class." I replied evenly, raising an eyebrow when he laughed brightly and shook his head.

"Yeah, same here. I got something though." He fumbled in his pocket and pulled something out, showing me the cover before a mischievous grin stole over his face.

"Sora, why the hell do you have those?!" I hissed, grabbing the pack of cigarettes from his hand and stuffing them into my bag before anyone could see. If it was that Axel kid, I swear I was going to hurt someone…

"Demyx took them from Axel and so Axel took them back but I took them when they were fighting over them because Axel took them when Demyx took them and Demyx didn't know Axel took them." He babbled to me, the grin growing wider as I stared at him blankly. Did he seriously think I'd kept up with that conversation…? All I heard was "Axel" and, "I took them". Glowering, I shook my head in disgust.

"He's going to get it." I vowed, folding my arms. Was this guy seriously trying to get my brother hooked on something like that? Sure, Sora had taken it… but curiosity was the first step!! Glaring, I imagined hurting the guy I'd never met, but Sora distracted me from actually thinking too much about it.

"Oh, he doesn't know I have them. Demyx thinks Axel has them and Axel thinks Demyx has them. Now you have them!" Sora smiled brightly as the bell rang around us, signaling that first lunch was beginning, and I couldn't help but laugh softly at how excited he was. It was like someone had given him an energy drink or something.

… That happened once. Never, ever doing that again. I think one blown up mailbox is one too many…

"Yes, and then they're going into the trashcan." I informed him dully. Hearing someone shout his name, I looked over his head to see a small group of people coming towards us, laughing and talking and making as much noise as possible. Glancing down at him, I saw the way his eyes lit up, and he turned to me, eager. My stomach dropped heavily as I realized that they were his friends.

"You should come and eat with us." He said brightly, motioning to the people that were steadily getting closer. From what I could see, they all looked strange in one way or another from the way they all had the exact same black jacket either on or slung over their messenger bag to the strange hairstyles they sported. There was one kid who had shoulder length pink hair and some random kid with flaming red hair. Really…?

"Uh… that wouldn't be a good idea, Sora…." I stalled, backing up slightly and glancing nervously to his quickly approaching friends. Did I want to meet the people from the crazy stories Sora told Naminé and me about? No. Quite frankly, the stories were a little terrifying. There was one with some crazy girl named Larxene and some guy named Demyx… and something about getting an entire yard set on fire with them stuck in the yard… I don't know why or how they were stuck, and neither did Sora when I'd asked him. Either way, it had caused the boy named Demyx to singe his hair and that's why he had a weird mullet/faux-hawk. The girl had funny bangs, most of them singed off.

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun!" Sora exclaimed, pulling a plastic plate from his book bag. I watched helplessly as the group came closer, and I scooted farther back, hoping I wouldn't have to speak to them if they came close enough to see me.

"Uh… not today, ok? Sora?" I looked at him with what I hoped was a pleading stare, Sora's confused face swimming in front of me. He observed me for a moment, blue eyes shining brightly with something I couldn't name. Was it compassion? Was it pity? It didn't matter. I tossed a glance to where I could hear specific voices now, their appearances soon to be revealed. Sora let out a dejected sigh, a puppy kicked.

"Another day, then." Sora said evenly, opening the top of the plate to hand me a brownie. Forcing me to take one, he gave a bright grin and pushed me back towards the library door waving happily as I gave him a very thankful look.

"Another day." I lied hastily as the door closed on his eager and bright face. Sighing in relief, I speed-walked past the librarian, Mr. M and then made my way to the back of the library where the door to the mini-cafeteria resided. Walking in, I moved past the empty tables to where Lulu and Zexion sat, a space in between them like they were disgusted at moving any closer to one another. Lulu's face brightened as I sat down next to her, removing my messenger bag and pulling out the lunch I'd packed the night before.

"So what did he want?" She asked curiously as I silently handed her my apple and she gave a strangled cry of happiness, snatching it from my hand like she was a starved girl. Did she not realize she had a lunch tray in front of her…? Though, lunch food was pretty gross. Which is why I packed my lunch. A simple PBJ and random accessories kept me awake for the rest of the school day. Though… could you really accessorize a PBJ? I mean, you could add a carrot for the nose and add a dot of peanut butter to give the carrot nose a nose ring… and then if you added bell pepper slices on each side, you got ears. But would bell peppers, carrots, peanut butter, and jelly actually taste good together?

Why did I even care?!

"Same old." Zexion muttered next to me, sipping his yoohoo quietly as he turned another page. I nodded towards him and grabbed his twinkie as he grabbed my Doritos, the exchange unspoken and understood. Lulu munched on my apple and easily handed me her chips in turn, but I declined them, just like I always did. I hated chips.

"Who was that kid anyway?" Lulu asked me as she opened the chips and ate one, unabashed at my refusal to eat (insert shudder here) baked Doritos. I bit into the twinkie and tried to ignore her.

"It seemed like you two were pretty friendly back there… well, he was friendly. Not you." Lulu laughed at her own joke and ruffled my hair playfully, earning a well make scowl from me. At least a 7.4, honestly.

"Is he ever?" Zexion mused from his position on my left, earning the same 7.4 glare Lulu had received. Lulu laughed brightly that Zexion had made a joke at my expense, but all she got in return was a dark look from said boy. You'd think that after him and me being so mean to her she'd stop hanging out with us, but it was like she liked that kind of thing. I don't know if she took us seriously or not, but she seemed hell-bent on hanging out with me no matter how many times I said cruel, mean things to get her to leave.

"Answer me this then… why are we the only ones to ever eat in here?" Lulu looked around the simple room with a raised eyebrow, crossing her leg and munching on her apple thoughtfully. "I think I saw a teacher eat in here with us… once. Why don't you eat in the regular cafeteria?" I didn't answer, lips pursed as I pulled out my homework packet from AP chem and began working on it, grabbing the pencil that Zexion handed me silently.

"Wait… that boy knew you. And you always eat in here… and I've seen him come up to you guys during lunch a lot…" Lulu grew silent as she thoughtfully tapped her fingernail against her chin and observed my tense, hunched appearance. What would she conclude from that? Nervously I wrote down something blindly on my paper, not caring what it was as long as it made me seem like I was ignoring her. "He invited you to eat with him. He's been inviting you to eat lunch with him for awhile now. You avoid him by coming in here!" She declared suddenly, plucking my pencil from my grip and erasing my last answer. Correcting it, she smirked at me, knowing I hadn't been concentrating because I was waiting for her verdict. Begrudgingly, I nodded curtly. She was right, just like she usually was when she thought about things. Lulu was in all AP classes just like Zexion and me, and she was there for a reason. When she actually put her mind to something, she was brilliant.

Not that I'd ever tell her that.

"My, my, aren't we the analytical one." Zexion mused from my left, the insult underlying the statement.

"You probably couldn't have figured it out." She shot back, grabbing her apple from the table and biting it. I gritted my teeth and looked back at my paper, trying to concentrate. _Write the scientific names of the following balanced chemical equations…_

"I didn't have to; I already knew. Roxas told me." Zexion replied easily, politically maneuvering the anger from him to me and turning the page of his book with a slight sigh to signal his boredom with the conversation. I gripped my pencil tighter as Lulu laughed humorlessly. _Na2+O4H2+Mg____…_

"Is that true? Why wouldn't you tell me?" Lulu raised an eyebrow, folding her arms and glaring at me dangerously. I looked nervously over at her from the corner of my eye but didn't answer, struggling to keep track of the question on the paper. Impatiently, she grabbed a nail file out of her lacy purse, sighing as she examined her nails with boredom, her heart not in the action.

"Roxas? Why-"

"He doesn't want to talk; let him be."

"He doesn't need you to baby him; let him speak." The nail file grated against her pinky as she tilted her head and clucked her tongue.

"I would do so if he wanted to."

"Why wouldn't he want to? It's just a simple question really; you're both making this harder than it has to be." The nail file skimmed to the pointer finger and she smoothed that one over as well.

"It could be possible that he does not enjoy your company." The book was closed in agitation.

"Because yours is much more appealing." The nail file began moving at a faster pace, showing her anger as well. Gritting my teeth my eyes darted from place to place, trying to find something to help with ending the stupid argument.

"Better than the other option that's been forced upon him."

Ah, bingo.

"Listen here, kiddo-" Lulu's retort was cut off as I promptly smacked my head against the table, the echoing noise stopping their bickering as they both looked down at me blankly.

"What's wrong with him?" Lulu asked curiously, poking me on the shoulder.

"… Roxas?" Zexion peered down at me with a knowing glint in his eye.

"_Ouch…_" I groaned softly. It successfully shut them up though, and for that I'd bruise my skull again for the blessed quiet it brought.

"Bottling it up won't help. Why don't you go to lunch with that boy?" Lulu asked curiously, alarmed as I began beating my head against the table, muttering under my breath and ignoring Zexion's snort of amusement as he opened his book once more.

* * *

Sora:

"Did he seriously just run off?" Axel asked me as we walked down the stairs to the lunchroom. I nodded slowly as my friends gave me sympathetic glances, but I didn't want them feel bad for me. I was a little frustrated with them though it wasn't exactly their fault that they'd scared my brother off. I think if they hadn't shown up he would have actually eaten lunch with me, but the moment he'd spotted them it was like a completely different guy had taken over. His face had completely drained of all emotion he'd had just seconds before, and a cold indifference had taken over. I don't know if he'd realized that he was changing into an emotionless robot right in front of me, but change he had. I had almost been tempted to poke him to see if he was made of metal, and I was surprised that his voice hadn't come out sounding all robotic and what not.

"He said maybe another day." I replied brightly, handing him the plate with the brownies on it, giving Demyx and Axel a silent go-ahead to eat the rest of them. Roxas had one, and with that I was fine. Maybe tomorrow I could sneak off from my friends and convince him to eat lunch with just me? I could tell that somewhere, deep down, he wanted to talk with me. He just showed that desire by running the other way.

"Just like he said last Friday." Axel reminded me bluntly, taking a brownie and biting into it with a moan of desire. What did he think they were, sex brownies? I looked over at Demyx who was currently grabbing one brownie after another, munching through them way too quickly to be normal, and then over to where Marluxia and Larxene shared one, Larxene eating the bigger half.

"He'll come around… I think you guys scared him away." I chastised jokingly as we walking into the cafeteria where everyone's loud chatter made it harder to hear. I pulled my lunch out of my book bag and grabbed our regular spot as everyone but Demyx and I stayed behind. He also packed lunches.

"We scared him away? Was that what his face was? He looked like he was about judo-chop me in the neck!" Demyx rubbed his neck awkwardly and glanced fearfully around for a moment before coming to the conclusion that he wasn't about to be judo-chopped. Though, if Roxas had heard him say that, he probably would have judo-chopped him just to prove him right. If I knew how to judo-chop, I probably would too! But, I was kicked out of karate for being a danger to myself instead of everyone else.

I mean, it's not like I meant to sprain my ankle. I was trying to jump over the chair and surprise tackle Cloud. Cloud doesn't take surprises very well…

"That's his shy face." I informed him with a wave of my hand, pulling out my Doritos and taking the proffered ho-ho from Demyx's outstretched hand. I studiously avoided looking up at Demyx's shocked face, his deeper blue eyes locked on my face in disbelief. I know, I know, the look Roxas gave was positively murderous, but it really was his shy face! He just hid it very, very well. So well, I don't think he realized it. He was really good at hide-and-go-seek.

"I'm… lost." Demyx finally said a few moments of silence. I quickly glanced from side to side before concluding the area was safe, and then I moved in to whisper my findings in his ear.

"Secretly, my brother's really shy. You guys scared him off because he's not used to all of…" I made an exploding motion with my hands to describe how we were. "So when he's not used to something like," I made the motion again, "He runs off like a scared bunny." I moved back with an accomplished smile, nodding as Demyx's eyes grew wider.

"_No,_" He whispered back, jaw slack. Beaming, I nodded and put my finger to my lips, signaling that he shouldn't let anyone know. Solemnly, he put his finger to his lips as well, and the deal was sealed.

"He'd never admit it though… so don't ask!" I grinned brightly as Axel and Larxene made their way over, Marluxia still in line.

"Your secret's safe with me." Demyx vowed, crossing his heart with his fingers.

"What secret?" Axel asked curiously as he slid next to Demyx and took the Doritos, giving the blonde boy his baked Doritos.

"He's gay." Larxene replied nonchalantly, examining her fingernails morosely.

"No I'm not!" I cried out in shock, grabbing her PBJ from her tray and letting out an undignified squeak as she launched a carrot at my face to grab it back.

"That's no secret." Axel said thoughtfully, mumbling around his food.

"What's no secret?" Marluxia asked as he sat down.

"Sora's gay." Demyx supplied as he ate his baked Doritos.

"I'm not gay!" I defended myself.

"It's ok to be gay, Sora… I'm gay." Demyx attempted to comfort me, but I jumped away from him, glaring daggers. One of them actually shot him in the eye, but it was taken care of before anyone noticed.

"Yes, but you're flaming. He's subtle." Larxene pointed out, grabbing Marluxia's PBJ instead of taking the one I was now eating angrily.

"He's not that subtle." Marluxia disagreed, earning a jab in the rib.

"There's nothing to be subtle about! I'm not gay!"

"I think Axel's gay." Demyx confided in us, earning an orange in the face.

"Flaming." Axel agreed with a shrug. Exasperated, I glared at all of them, waiting for someone to realize I was perfectly serious. I wasn't gay! Don't get me wrong, I didn't have a problem with gay guys, but everyone seemed to think I was gay as well! Just because I'm friends with a couple of them doesn't make me one as well…

Right…? Right.

"I think my brother's gay." I blurted without thinking, causing several faces to turn to me in unison, eyes wide and eyebrows raised. Demyx spluttered for a few moments before he became thoughtful, chewing slowly.

"He gives off little vibes." Demyx agreed, tapping his head. Demyx liked to think that he had a perfectly working gay-dar that could pinpoint any man or woman out and tell him their sexuality. I'd never seen it in action though, so I don't know if it's true. But… he did say that Roxas had little vibes… was he right? I was just saying that to throw the conversation off of me!

Was he really?

"That's why he doesn't have girlfriends." Larxene let out a sadistic laugh, finding his lack of a social life amusing. I frowned though, trying to see how things fit. Is that why he didn't go out with girls? He never seemed the type to really be interested in anybody so I just assumed he wasn't interested. Maybe he just didn't find the right somebody because he was looking at the wrong gender? Hmm…

"He's like poison ivy." Marluxia informed us from his seat, playing with a strand of his pink hair. He claims he was born with pink hair, but I think that was a lie. I swear I saw a yearbook picture of him in third grade with really ugly brown hair, but I never told him. Seeing that picture made me want to believe his pink hair was natural.

"Do people get a rash when they touch him?" Demyx guessed with confusion written all over him. Larxene quickly capped the sharpie and grinned as he squealed and tried to wipe the words off…

…Too bad sharpie's pretty much permanent!

"No, but he manages to spread pretty quickly. Everyone in AP block talks about how he's so standoffish and doesn't talk to anyone. Girls love him, but he blows them off. He hangs out with that bookworm who's name escapes me… and then there's that scary Lulu girl who is actually quite popular for some odd reason. Either way, everyone there knows _of_ Roxas, but because of his disposition they know to stay away." Marluxia finished his brief monologue and looked at us with boredom etched across his face before he shrugged and turned away. "I'm just observant, I guess." He muttered as Larxene scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"He didn't use to be like that." I informed him, feeling the need to defend my twin. I know Marluxia was meaning to sound mean because that's just how he was sometimes, and I didn't like that he targeted my brother. I really wanted to help Roxas… I really did. I hated how he seemed so unhappy whenever I saw him, and I hated how today he looked like he was shutting himself off from the world. How to fix that though? How to make him what he used to be?

"What, did he use to be like you?" Larxene asked with a raised eyebrow. Shrugging, I nodded and bit into a ho-ho.

"Then I'm almost glad he's the way he is!" Axel laughed and stood up to toss his tray out, winking to show that he was joking. I rolled my eyes but couldn't help laughing either.

"I just want… him to be happy again." I said as Axel sat back down and faced us head on. The guy basically inhaled his food like it was oxygen, like he always did, and so he was able to focus now that it was out of the way. He's pretty one track minded like that… can't focus on too many things.

"So hook him up with someone." Marluxia suggested, shrugging. "Relieves stress to have casual sex with someone you plan on leaving later." Larxene promptly whacked him on the head with her tray before venomously glaring and stomping off, Marluxia realizing too late what he'd just said. His eyes bugging comically out of his head he jumped up and took after her, calling out her name desperately, the blonde girl giving him the finger before turning the corner.

"They'll be back together soon." Demyx shrugged and turned back to us, all of us slightly amused that they'd just gotten back together just to break up again. Ah, young love.

"I think he's just not around the right people. I've never really hung out with a lot of AP students, but they seem really studious… nothing like me." Demyx added after we went slightly quiet for a few moments.

"What's wrong with the AP kids?" I asked, slightly confused.

"Nothing's wrong with them per say… but if he's standoffish and then with studious people all day long, he's not going to be really social after awhile." Axel explained, and I nodded slowly in understanding.

"What, so he's a social retard?" Demyx asked with wide eyes. Laughing, Axel nodded, but I whacked him on top of his wild spikes, poking myself with one of them. Nursing my injured hand, I glared as best as I could at him, silently demanding that he take that back.

"I don't know how to act around Zexion… he's so quiet and when I tried being friendly he said a bunch of big words I didn't understand… if they're all like that, I can see why he's the way he is." I replied when Axel simply shrugged and fixed his hair absentmindedly, face thoughtful. That's the thing people didn't understand about Axel either. He seemed sarcastic and biting, but when he was with friends he did it because we were his friends. He knew I kept bringing up my brother because I wanted to fix it, and I could tell by his facial expression that he was going to help.

"So if he was around people who weren't like that…" Axel's voice trailed off as all three of us suddenly sported identical mischievous grins an idea sprouting in each of our minds almost at the same time.

"Well, I've always wanted to spend time with Roxas…" Demyx mused with a glint of excitement in his eyes.

"And I've always wanted to see the other side of our school…" I added suggestively, raising an eyebrow towards Axel.

"I guess it's good you guys look alike then." He commented with a raised eyebrow, shrugging. We leaned in, glancing around to make sure that no one was listening so that we could make sure our plan stayed on the down low. It wouldn't do for our plan to be ruined before we'd even had a chance to hatch it. Strangely, a baby chicken sprouted in my mind and I shook my head wondrously before I focused back on the task at hand.

"It will be dangerous… we don't exactly act alike. And if the teachers found out we'd get in a lot of trouble with Cloud." I whispered to Axel and Demyx, shuddering at the thought of my oldest sibling finding out. He was all about procedures and rules, and would probably shat a brick if he knew.

"So you try to mirror him, and he'll try to mirror you." Axel pushed that worry away with a flick of his hair. "Besides, this is to help cure your brother from his S.U.T.A.S…" At my baffled look he explained. "Stick up the ass syndrome. It's a serious case."

"Ah… right." Demyx mumbled to us, seemingly in a daze. Rolling his eyes Axel continued.

"We'd keep him from getting into any real trouble… and we'd show him a good time too." Axel informed me as we both overlooked Demyx's deer in the headlights look.

"And then I'd get to see how he lives while he sees how I live!" I said excitedly. I couldn't help that I was terribly curious about how Roxas went about school life. I mean, did he really eat lunch in the library everyday instead of with me and my friends? What were his friends like when they weren't around people? I couldn't help the burning curiosity, and when I'm curious, I do stupid things.

Hence, the planning I was doing.

"And you'd get your old brother back." Axel encouraged me. I was grinning along, totally excited about the idea. It wasn't every day I planned to switch lives with my brother. As I thought that though, something dawned on me, and I couldn't help my face from falling slightly as I realized the error in my plans.

"One problem though…" I mumbled to my friends, hardly noticing Larxene walking back into the lunchroom with Marluxia in tow, both of their faces livid.

"What's that?" Axel asked, eyebrow raised.

"I've got to convince my brother first." I stage-whispered to them as Larxene sat down on Axel's left and Marluxia to his right. Axel's face became comically horrified and Demyx's puzzled stare shifted to outright befuddlement. Axel sighed and leaned back against the wall, shaking his spikes with confusion. Demyx scratched the funny spikes on the top of his head and leaned in.

"What are we talking about…?" Demyx asked with scrunched eyebrows. Slapping his hand against his forehead, Axel let out another sigh as I felt my hope at reaching my brother start to fade. What could I say to make him switch places? I mean, sure he would like the challenge, but he wouldn't like breaking the rules. He also would flat out refuse when I mentioned that he'd have to actually spend time with my friends. What could I do to convince him? I groaned and buried my head in my arms, ignoring Larxene's tsk'ing.

"So put him in a position he can't refuse." Marluxia said after a few moments of silence. I looked up at him, tilting my head to show confusion, and Larxene made a noise of annoyance in the back of her throat at my ignorance. She did that a lot…

"He hates us. So give him the offer of getting rid of us." She raised an eyebrow and shrugged at our blank looks. "Honestly, you're all idiots." She chastised as Marluxia nodded in agreement.

"She's saying, make him think he has that opportunity. Make him an offer he can't refuse. And then you get exactly what you want." Marluxia informed us as she refused to explain. Larxene was kind of impatient like that... she always wanted everyone to understand. Too bad with my friends and me we hardly ever understood…

Not like we're proud of that or anything…

"So make him think he wants to do what we're trying to make him do?" I asked, trying to act like I wasn't confused.

"Precisely." Larxene folded her arms and smugly observed us with her vividly blue eyes. Larxene would be really pretty actually if she wasn't so scary. She had white blonde hair kind of gelled back with these two strings of bangs that looked a little like antennae. She used to have regular bangs like normal people did, but there was this one time that her and Demyx got trapped in her yard that Axel had set on fire. It kind of burned most of her hair, so she got it cut and kept the two strips of bangs that managed to survive the incident…

And Axel wonders why she gives him withering glares…

"And then we'll take over from there." Demyx exclaimed brightly, shoving a fist into the air with a large, cheesy grin that made everyone slowly scoot away from him in slight worry.

"Slow down there… I still have to convince him." I said gravely, looking up at the hallway where I surprisingly caught a glimpse of my brother walking past the windows, probably heading to class early. Beside him walked Zexion and the scary girl with the slightly gothic tea party dress. Letting out a quiet sigh, I looked back at my friends and put my fist out, watching as they all put their into the stack, sealing the deal. They would all now help me reach my goal, because that's what friends did.

* * *

Sora:

Of course, it was easier said than done. I walked home with Naminé and went into the house with a heavy heart, mind reeling. Roxas had after school cram classes for college exams and the end of the year AP tests that he went to every other day, so I didn't have to face him just yet. It was second semester that I'd stay after school for track and swimming, so I had one semester of being able to go home right after school with my little sister. She sometimes stayed after to work on her art class portfolio, but it wasn't a mandatory thing. Besides, the teacher knew she would have everything ready in time, so I had an hour and a half before I had to face him with what I think would be my hardest challenge. You may think it's easy to convince a sibling to do something for you, but you've never really met Roxas.

Try having a twin. So you've got this twin, and you guys used to everything together. One day, he suddenly goes crazy and throws himself into his studies and becomes really, _really_smart. Years pass and he keeps getting smarter, and while he's getting smarter you're just plugging along. While plugging along you try to get things from him, and because he's so much smarter, you can't get anything! Manipulation is not a strong suit of mine, and don't even mention lying. I'm a terrible liar really, and even if I was good at it, he'd see right through what I had to say. The guy had x-ray vision!

How was I supposed to convince him? I knew I had to dangle my friends in front of his face, but I was never really good at lying or manipulating. Turning on Tatu I let the stereo get really loud as I rushed into the kitchen to clean up the mornings mess. Maybe if Roxas saw me working really hard on the house, he'd be a bit more relaxed and willing to go along with my idea? Scrubbing furiously at the slightly dried batter on the counter, I danced along to the techno music and mouthed along to the words.

"He won't want to listen." Naminé said softly behind me. Squealing in surprise I whirled around and incidentally sprayed her with the extendable hose our sink had, not knowing she was right there. Squealing again I turned back and turned off the water, bright red and slightly scared of what she would do. Peeking over my shoulder I saw that her hair in the front was drenched, and her light blue shirt/ dress thing was soaked on top. Cringing, I fully turned back and waited for my punishment.

"He won't listen to what?" I asked innocently, wincing and grabbing a towel from the drawer and dabbing helplessly at her shirt. Brushing me off she shrugged and pulled her hair back away from her face, her bangs falling back into her eyes even though she kept pushing them back.

"You'll pay for that." She said calmly, flashing a small, innocent smile that sent shivers up my spine. Naminé had to be the scariest family member I'd ever known. She seemed all innocent and quiet and shy, drawing in her little sketch book, but NO! She was devious, smart, clever, and any other word that means she could quickly, quietly, and swiftly bring revenge down on my itty bitty head. I was terrified.

"I'm so sorry Naminé!! I didn't know you were right there, please don't-"

"No blood no foul." She smiled prettily up at me, but it didn't calm me at all. She'd get me when I least expected it. Shuddering again, I nodded bleakly.

"He's had a bad day." She continued, ignoring my wide eyes and paranoia. "So whatever you want to tell him, be gentle." She smiled again, patting me gently on the cheek before she disappeared around the corner, probably heading up to her room. Letting out a shaky breath, I glanced around the room with wide eyes before I continued cleaning up, jumping at the smallest noises and almost becoming mush on the floor when she tapped me on the back, slipped around me, grabbed an apple, and then left.

I never asked how Naminé just knew these things. She could probably read Roxas better than anyone else (besides me) and could just know when something was wrong. Don't tell me how but she just did.

When Roxas got home, I rushed into the living room where he was kicking his shoes off and lining them up orderly next to my shoes that were kicked off and lay on their sides. Fixing them with a grumble under his breath, he set his bag onto the floor and looked up at me with a blank face, probably wondering why I was staring at him.

Right. Staring was bad.

"How was school?" I asked brightly, grabbing his arm lightly and ushering him into the kitchen for a snack. He followed and mumbled something under his breath that sounded like, "It was quite alright." But I couldn't be sure. Beaming I nodded brightly and dumped him into a chair, grabbing an apple and passing it to him. Jumping up on the island in our kitchen, I watched him stare at me for a moment, and then stare at the apple for another moment. He looked around the sparkly clean kitchen, and then fixed me with a scary gaze.

"What do you need, Sora?" He asked me slowly, voice subdued and detached. I jumped slightly at his question, but pushed my nervousness down, smiling brightly and shaking my head at him like he was stupid.

"Why would I need anything?!" I asked innocently, but I could tell by the slight slouch in his shoulders he didn't buy it.

"Because you cleaned the kitchen like I usually would." He explained drolly, a smirk starting to appear on his face. Glancing around the room, he pointed lightly to the stove where I'd gotten into the itty bitty cracks. "You never clean the hot plates." He explained, his smirk becoming something like a smile. Sheepishly, I turned back and tried another tactic.

"You know when Cloud always says to help out the family?" I asked carefully, trying to find the right words. Roxas stared at me for a beat before he nodded slowly, biting into his apple cautiously like he thought it was poisoned.

"Yes…" His voice dragged with slight suspicion and weariness. He looked drained, and I felt worry rush through me. He looked tired all the time, but today it hit me just how tired he looked. Hopefully my idea would fix the constant depression in his eyes.

"Well, I need help." I said, evading the main subject. Narrowing his eyes, Roxas stood up and crossed the distance between us.

"What happened?" He demanded angrily, grabbing me and examining my entire being. Laughing, I pushed him back and scratched my head awkwardly, swinging my legs for a distraction.

"Nothing happened really…" I hedged, not looking him in the eyes.

"Is this something about your friends?" He prodded me with a finger, making me look back up at him with shock. How did he know?!

"Well, it is about my friends… wait, not like that!" I grabbed his arm as he turned to hunt down my group, murder in his eyes. Grabbing both of his shoulders I managed to turn him back and shake my head quickly, laughing as he stared at me with confusion.

"They didn't do anything wrong… but I just noticed that you didn't like any of them." I smiled past the lie, hoping he'd be too distracted with anger to notice the lie. I'd always known he'd hated them, but I just ignored it. Giving a slight grumble under his breath, he pulled my hands from his shoulders and stepped back to lean against the table.

"I don't understand why you involve yourself with them. If I were you, I'd drop every single one of them." He informed me, making my stomach drop. Though it was the perfect opening, it still hurt to know he despised them that much. His eyes flashed angrily, but his face remained perfectly blank. How did he do that?! I could hardly stop from showing every little feeling I had!

"If you were me? What about your friends? Zexion always uses mean, big words, and that really scary girl in the doll clothes gave someone amnesia!" I shook my head, trying to bait him by being mean. I swallowed a grin to see that it worked.

"Zexion understands my feelings and gives me space. Lulu… I can't get her to leave me alone. Doesn't matter what I do, so I can't seem to fix that problem. What have they done to you? Absolutely nothing." He folded his arms and fixed me with a glare, his jaw clenched with anger. Nervously I gripped the island's edge for support and I kept talking, trying to do what Marluxia and Larxene had advised.

"I don't like how they act. I think you shouldn't hang out with them." I swallowed as his face clouded with anger and his lips pursed.

"And what would you know of my friend and stalker that makes them unsuitable?" He asked quietly, head tilted condescendingly. I felt guilt gnaw at me for pushing it, remembering Naminé's words about him having a bad day, but I continued anyway. For his sake, he'd just have to be angry for a little bit.

"What is it about my friends that makes them unsuitable?!" I retorted, folding my arms as well and matching his scowl with one of my own. I know mine wasn't impressive like his was, but I had to try!

"They smoke, drink, and party; they don't make good grades, and they skip classes. They have terrible attitudes and I can't stand the thought of you being influenced by them." He rattled off, ticking a finger off with every part of the list. I flinched under the rather good list, but held my ground shakily.

"That's because you don't know them. I bet you don't even have the guts to hang out with them at least once to get to know them." I smiled inwardly at the way it was falling into place, and I congratulated myself when I saw the shocked look on his face. Ah, he wasn't expecting that sort of thing, was he? Of course not!

"You bet…? What are you getting at, Sora?" His face became carefully guarded, but I knew it was his thinking mask. He was starting to think about my words and try to twist them into his own advantage. If I was lucky, I wouldn't have to give away too much.

"I bet that you would like my friends if you actually took the time to get to know them." I challenged, trying to smirk as he put a finger to his temple, the gears really turning now. His eyes sparked with an idea, and a smirk appeared on his face as he came to his own conclusion.

"And if I went with this bet? What then?" He asked, an eyebrow raised as he folded his arms again.

"If you win, I stop hanging out with them. If I win… then I get to keep my friends."

"And how do you purpose we go about this whole bet?" He asked with forced annoyance. I could see that his curiosity and eagerness were battling to break free.

"Simple. We switch places." I smiled wickedly as he tilted his head and assessed me critically, on his guard. Hopefully, this would work, and silently I crossed my fingers, waiting for his verdict. Letting out a barely audible sigh, he stepped forward and stuck a hand out, grinning wolfishly at me.

"One month, Sora. We switch for one month and pretend to be each other. If I win, you don't hang out with your friends. If you win, you do." We stared each other down like we were in a gun fight, identical smirks adorning our faces.

"I'll even take care of your Lulu while I'm at it." I added in, smiling as his eyes sparkled deviously.

"It would take care of problems." He agreed, nodding with me.

"Deal?"

"Deal."

* * *

_Ah... now we're starting to get rolling... this is where things will really get interesting!_

_Hit or miss? Let me know in a reivew!_

Roxas- You seriously make me look like I've got S.U.T.A.S...

Axel- It's because you do, smart one.

Roxas- I don't even! You don't know my life story!

Lias- I do!

Axel/ Roxas- Well... you are the author... I would hope so...

Lias- Oh... right. Anywho...

_I'll update soon!_


	3. Identity Crisis Syndrome

_:D Good Golly Gosh Guys! That was a huge group of reviews! Thanks so much for all you had to say! I really appreciate everyone who reivewed! It gave me the drive to update this as quick as possible!_

_NOTE: Interested in being in the story? Want to be included? Leave a review with your character's name/description/interests, and I'll incorperate them into the story line!_

_On with the show, yeah?_

* * *

Roxas:

And so the bet was set.

We'd start it the next Monday so that we could have time to prepare everything that we'd need to survive in the other's shoes. It would be 30 _school_ days so we would be switched for 6 weeks, right before a one week school break. We'd need to know who to talk to and who to stay away from, and we'd need to know each other's schedules. We'd have to know how to react to what, and where to go when. I had to remind him that we'd have to try to fit the other's life and not the other way around, and he just simply smiled and shrugged, eager that the bet was in place. I don't know why he was so excited… I was positive not even a year could get me to like his friends, so I had my winnings in the bag. He would get Lulu to get off of my back, and then I'd get the added bonus of the peace and quiet I craved when she was around.

We practiced reactions and we worked through different scenarios that he might go through. I was positive I could pass off as Sora, but I wasn't so sure of him acting like me. He might try to make friends with people that I couldn't stand, and then we'd be in trouble.

"This is Riku Hanz. He's a senior and my only competition." I pointed to the yearbook picture and watched my brother's face transform into wonder. Looking up at me, his eyes sparkled with excitement like he'd just found something big out.

"Do you mean that you have an arch-nemesis?!" He exclaimed, looking back at the picture and then up at me again. Rolling my eyes, I shook my head.

"We're actually quite civil to each other when we're together. It's just an unspoken thing that we're the only competition we have, and we try to always beat each other in everything we do." I explained, watching with humor as his face fell. Sora always tried to find out if there was something exciting or hidden in my life, and it was sad to say that there wasn't. I went to classes, I went to cram sessions, and I went home to do homework.

"So if I meet him in class or in the hallway…" Sora looked at me strangely.

"Nod your head and keep doing what you're supposed to be doing." I advised gravely, shuddering at the thought of Riku and Sora actually having a conversation. The boy would be able to spot my phony replacement a mile away, and then he'd say something. We weren't friends, but we weren't enemies. To get ahead in our little game he'd say something, and then there would be consequences. Cloud's face came to mind and I shuddered inwardly.

"This is Seifer. He's my enemy." Sora proudly pointed out the kid with a weird beanie and a silvery jacket, his smirk irking me even though I didn't know him. Glancing over at my brother with slight surprise, I had to admit that I didn't know he had an enemy. Guilt gnawed at my conscience but I pushed it away roughly. Now wasn't the time for that.

"Oh, it's pretty exciting… he tries to bully me but he's supposed to be a hall monitor, so he just tries to get me into trouble. He doesn't, but one of these days…" His voice trailed off as he shook a fist, covering his mouth to hide his smile. "I once tripped him down the stairs!" Sora proudly pointed to himself and I rolled my eyes, looking back at the smug brat and logging his name away for future reference.

I'd still do my own homework of course… I didn't mean to fail my classes by letting him go crazy with my work. Of course, I'd spoken to Zexion about my plans for the next month, hinting that he should look after my brother and keep him in check with my usual schedule. He had replied the way I'd expected Zexion to reply. Sarcastic humor.

"This will end ironically." He informed me from behind his newest book, the width of it bigger than my head. I nodded slowly as I wrote down a few reminders for the preparations of next week.

"I'm not going to like his friends." I informed him softly as Kairi and her small group of friends walked past. Kairi smiled and waved at me, but I merely gave a curt nod and continued writing. Zexion gave a politically correct cough from behind his book before he set it down and placed a slip of paper between the pages, giving me his undivided attention.

"And what if you begin to like them? You'd have slipped this entire scenario for nothing. Your brother isn't an idiot, though he does appear that way sometimes. Either way, you still run the risk by letting yourself fall into the bet in the first place." He flitted a hand through the air and raised an eyebrow at my perturbed stare.

"I'm aware of that…but it's worth it. By being around them, I can easily encourage them to stay away from my brother." I replied easily, ignoring his snort of amusement.

"Yes, and they can easily turn your argument around the same way you'll try to turn theirs around. Sora has presumably already informed them of the upcoming switch, am I correct?" He tilted his head smugly as I jerked my head up and down, knowing where he was getting at.

"I'm not easily manipulated though." I defended myself, nodding as Riku took a seat next to me on my other side. He showed the teacher his pass as the vulturesque woman pounced on him, and with a blasé shrug he inadvertently caused an immediate change of conversation as Zexion returned to his book and I began working again.

"You'll most likely be with Axel and Demyx most of the time. Axel has almost all of my classes and Demyx has all of them. You'll also be around Marluxia and Larxene, but Larxene is kind of snappy when she doesn't know someone. Rai is Seifer's monkey, so avoid him… really, just stick with Axel and you'll be perfectly fine. He offered to show you around and keep you out of trouble." Sora grinned brightly at me and ignored the way my face looked like I'd been told someone had run over my puppy. Did I have a puppy? No. But if I had one and it had been run over, I would have made the face I'd just made when I was told the guy I hated the most out of Sora's friend would be my escort for a whole month.

"Stick with Zexion. Try to convince Lulu to leave you/ me alone while you're at it, and keep your thoughts to yourself." I advised, schooling my face back to normal. I didn't want Sora to be upset that I hated his friends, and so I tried to have some kindness and pretend to be excited to meet new people. Was I excited? No. I was terribly, terribly nervous. New people for a whole month. People I was supposed to socialize with. People I didn't know…

Insert shudder here, if you would.

It took a lot of work to prepare. Sora had a lot of difficulty pretending to be me; I think it was against his nature to be easily annoyed with stupidity.

"You can't act overly nice to Kairi's group." I sighed and rubbed my palms into my eyes as he groaned wearily and slumped onto my bed. It was close to one in the morning, and we only had a few days left to really get a grasp on what we were doing. The closer we got to the next week, the more frustrated I became and the more frantic Sora became.

"Why not? She seems nice…" His voice trailed off as he looked over the yearbook picture of the red headed she-devil.

"She seems nice, yes. So does her friends Selphi, Yuna, and Rikku. They're all a bunch of screaming harpies though, so please don't give them the excuse to talk to me unnecessarily, please?" I knew I was being a little childish, but I wanted to go back to my normal life the moment a month was up. I didn't want to have to have damage control the same time I'd go through therapy to get over this entire thing. Yes, it was worth it to keep Sora away from bad crowds, but that didn't mean I wouldn't have scars.

Lots and lots of scars.

Naminé knew about the entire thing, of course. We'd have to have her secrecy in order for things to run smoothly, so naturally I was the one that needed to ask her. Sora merely mumbled something about her getting revenge on him before he'd run to his room and slammed the door in fear.

Naminé was in her room, like she usually was. It was a plain white room with white and light blue blankets and pillows and a crème colored wooden desk where she drew. A few drawings littered the walls, but they were mostly tucked away into her desk where she currently sat, drawing something for her AP portfolio. Mine was almost finished, but Naminé often redid her drawings until they were perfected beyond reason. Well, I did too… but that was beside the point.

"I heard about your bet with Sora." Naminé addressed me as I quietly sat down onto her bed and waited for her to be ready to speak. I didn't like pushing her to speak, and she knew I didn't like holding long, drawn out conversations. She probably knew why I'd bothered her in the first place.

"It's… interesting." I struggled to find the appropriate word to describe what the bet was. It wasn't exactly a terrible thing, but it was certainly out of character for me. The only in character part would be where I made Sora wait so that we could properly plan things out. Naminé smiled blithely and nodded understandingly.

"You'll do fine. You want me to do damage control with any rumors or suspicions." It wasn't a question since she most likely already knew I'd need her for that. Naminé had the strange gift of being neither seen nor heard, and therefore knew everything there was to know about rumors and the like. She could also dispel any trouble since everyone trusted her information. She didn't twist the truth and didn't become a gossiping harpy like Kairi's group of friends.

Though, she wasn't an innocent child either. No, no, please don't make the mistake of coming to that conclusion. For your own safety.

"It would help keep things from stirring up. Cloud doesn't need to know." Smiling, Naminé nodded and held up a pinky, her smile becoming an all out beam as I linked pinkies to seal the promise. Now I knew she would do her best to keep trouble down. Cloud would never find out.

"List off my schedule." I said as I worked on my AP chem. Packet. I was almost finished with it so that Sora could take it to class and be prepared. I didn't want him trying to write any of the answers down and give me a zero.

"AP Chem. AP lit. AP history, AP government, AP calculus, AP economics, AP art, and gym. What's mine?" Sora rolled around on my bed, smiling as I nodded in approval. At least he knew where to go.

"Art, algebra 2, world history, chemistry, world language, health, gym, and drama." I replied tonelessly, the words flashing through my mind in a list. Nodding, Sora jumped up and went to look out of the window, his walk similar to mine, just like mine was as close to his as I could get it. He was better at changing that then I was though, I had to admit. Good posture wasn't something you could force away like bad posture.

"I think we're ready." Sora turned to me and grinned brightly, exposing his eagerness.

"As ready as we'll ever get." I agreed softly, looking back at him with a raised eyebrow. Sora turned to walk out of the room, but stopped and glanced back at me, something in his eyes making me a little worried.

"I hope I win." He said brightly, his eyes not really fitting the words. I merely smiled thinly and shrugged, watching as he turned to leave before I turned back to my homework with dread settling into my stomach. I didn't want him to win. He couldn't hang out with people like that; it was bad for him! And yet… the look in his eyes…

Rolling my eyes, I pushed the thought away and turned up Debussy, focusing on my homework once more. I had one more day to be absolutely prepared, and I was using it to my total advantage.

* * *

Roxas:

The morning dawned bright and early, much too early for my liking. It was like because I was dreading it, the day just had to speed up. Nerves fluttered around my stomach, and I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. I knew everything that Sora had informed me of, but it would be different in the actual situation. I could almost see Zexion rolling his eyes at me, and then the whole idea of him actually trying to _tame _my brother was asinine. Thoughts like that kept rushing through my mind, racing around at nauseating speeds until my alarm rang too early, and Sora came bounding in with too much enthusiasm to be natural.

"It's time, it's time, it's time!" He jumped around my bed before he let out a laugh and jumped onto my bed, efficiently waking me up and starting the morning off badly. I hated being woken up. It was not something I enjoyed, and I often took it out on the poor sap that woke me up. Giving my best evil eye to my poor twin brother, I watched as his eager face twisted into something akin to fear before he rushed out of the room laughing.

"My family is officially insane." I groaned, falling back into bed and staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes before I pulled myself out of bed. I showered, dressed, and fixed my hair quickly, spiking it the way Sora did his hair, knowing that his hair would be styled like mine so that it just seemed like we'd colored our hair. Grabbing his book bag from beside my desk I gave a small sigh as I looked at myself in the mirror, trying to slouch a little more than I usually did. I was slightly proud to admit that if you changed my hair color, I could pass myself off as him, easily. Well, minus the way my lips turned down naturally while his were always up in a natural smile.

"You'll do fine." Naminé said from my doorway, her eyes sparkling with amusement. Turning to face her I shrugged and ignored the way my stomach panged with nerves. I couldn't let anyone think I was having second thoughts. If Sora thought I was feeling that way he'd just laugh and forfeit the bet, making me lose my chance to help him.

"I hope so." I replied softly, walking down the stairs with her towards the kitchen. Sora sat at the table with Cloud, bright and eager with his hair styled like mine usually was. He wore my usual simple black dress shoes while I wore his strange and rather large yellow skater shoes. Cloud glanced up as I walked in, and he sported a look of utter confusion and slight horror as he took in my appearance. My shirt was cleaned but it looked like I'd just tossed it to the floor instead of hung it up like I usually do. My first button was undone and Sora's black and silver striped tie lazily hung down, halfway done. My pants were loose and a belt that mimicked a seatbelt held my pants up. I wore Sora's clothes, and Cloud had no idea why. Stifling a grin I returned his look with a raised eyebrow.

He gave me a stoic, questioning glance as I sat down and grabbed an orange from the centerpiece of fruit.

"It's opposite day." I informed him as I peeled my fruit.

"His shirt is ironed." Cloud commented quietly, nodding to where Sora's entire outfit was creased in the right places and buttoned all the way up, the simple black silk tie tied correctly. He was polished and pristine, his face twisted with intense concentration. The only thing that gave him away was the smile that kept fighting to dominate his face. He looked…

Well, he looked like a happier, brown haired version of me.

"I can iron clothing!" Sora defended himself, his voice a little lower and less enthused. He tossed me a wink as Cloud dropped his bagel onto his plate and stared between us, demanding an answer now.

"I'm doing a project for my AP literature class based on twin identity syndrome. Since I have a twin my teacher is allowing me to conduct an experiment." I blandly explained, ignoring how Sora kicked me lightly under the table. My voice wasn't "Sora-ish" enough. Clearing my throat I watched Cloud's face clear of confusion and turn into slight interest. He wasn't one for showing a whole lot of emotion, but I could tell what he was feeling based on the way his head tilted.

"What's the experiment?" He asked in his low voice, running a hand through his messy hair. Somehow he managed to not have to keep it shorn short like other cadets had to. It was something about him convincing his superior, sephir-something-or-other that he had a scalp condition and needed it kept long. His superior seemed to like him though and let him keep it how he wanted it.

"The similarities and differences of twins… Sora and I have switched personas to see what it's like being the other twin. We will dress like the other, talk like the other, and attempt to be the other, in a way." Cloud seemed momentarily amused as he nodded towards my shirt that was slightly wrinkled and my tie that was a little undone.

"That explains the clothing crisis. I thought you had tried to pawn through his things this morning." He grinned slightly, standing up and tossing his plate into the sink, shaking his head.

"How long will this be going on?" He asked as he walked into the living room.

"One month, precisely." I called back, imitating the higher, bubbly voice my brother used. Sora beamed and gave me the thumbs up, and I couldn't help but smile a little. At least we could get the voices down, just a little. Sure enough, Cloud's head popped back into the kitchen and he glanced between us before I pointed to myself to let him know who'd just spoken.

"That's a long time." He thought out loud, disappearing again, most likely to finish putting his uniform together.

"It's a long project." Sora said dully, smirking as I gave him a congratulatory nod. He would do ok if that's all he did all day. Anything else, and I was positive we were done for. I couldn't help but acknowledge the excitement bubbling in my gut, making me slightly nauseas as I ate my orange. Enthusiasm and nervousness didn't mix well with the butterflies already in my stomach.

"Speaking of projects… did you present your project yesterday, Sora?" Naminé asked him quietly to change the subject. It wouldn't do well for Cloud to get too much information, or we might slip up with our lying. The thing that set good liars apart from bad liars would be the strength of their memory. You have to remember everything you lied about, and every detail you added in so that no one could trap you around something you twisted up because you didn't know what you told them before. I'd tried to keep it simple, but was it too much? Project for lit, one month, twin identity syndrome… that should do it, right?

"Yeah, I think my teacher knew that it was done last minute…" His voice trailed off, and he sheepishly ducked his head as Cloud popped back into the kitchen and gave him a disapproving glance. Cloud didn't like how Sora seemed to do things the exact opposite of me, and would often rail on him about it. He meant well, but I don't think he understood how much it hurt Sora to think his oldest brother thought he wasn't good enough.

"Maybe you behaving like your brother will give you better results." He commented as he tucked his pressed military shirt in. It was a crisp white shirt with blue pants, a red stripe going down the side of his pants. Grabbing a weird blue jacket with red lining and golden buttons, he gingerly maneuvered it around the long stretch of ribbons and medals he'd earned. Clipping the belt, he presented himself to us, and Naminé stood up to straighten everything out.

"As long as Roxas doesn't start acting like me and fail his classes!" Sora chirped, back to his normal voice. Rolling my eyes I had to laugh as Cloud's face darkened and he turned a stern glare to Sora.

"And are you failing any of your classes?" He asked in a dangerous, 'I'm going parental on your ass' kind of voice. Sora quailed under his gaze and shook his head quickly, eyes wide.

"Of course not, Cloud! I'm responsible with my grades!" He turned a pleading eye to me, but I ignored it and continued eating my small breakfast, not wanting to get in the middle of Cloud's scorching gaze. If I jumped in and tried to save somebody, I'd just get in trouble too. Maybe while I was in Sora's classes, I could bring his grade up to a low B to help out? It couldn't be anything overly noticeable or else the teachers would see something wrong when they plummeted again.

… maybe I'd just keep him at a high C then…

Soon enough though, Cloud left and we were off, Sora and I trading last minute information as Naminé quietly walked with us and added in her opinion when it was needed. I attempted to slouch in a carefree manner like my brother did, and he walked with a straight back, my messenger bag on his shoulder.

"You've got me down pretty well." I complimented him, feeling the need to put his morale at an all time high. He grinned roguishly at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Should I count my steps as I walk from place to place to seal the deal?" He joked.

"I don't count my steps!" I snapped, earning a quiet laugh from Naminé. Turning a glare to her she merely smiled kindly and shrugged.

"You count your steps if you have a longer time of walking." She informed me, agreeing with Sora who let out a whoop of laughter that I'd been duped. Burning red, I rolled my eyes and turned away, not wanting them to know I didn't like people pointing it out.

"It's just a habit." I muttered, trying to defend myself. Sora laughed brightly and shrugged, not really caring.

"You always have even numbers on the right foot and odd ones on the left." He pointed out.

"He also lines his materials up with precision and geometric symmetry. He cuts peanut butter to the side and chews gum evenly on his right side as well as his left. He locks and relocks the house door three times before he believes it's locked, and he washes the dishes twice before he puts them in the washer. He groups papers based on size and height and tabs his homework assignments, color coded to fit which class it's from. I think it's safe to say that Roxas has O.C.D." She shrugged and adjusted her book bag, shaking her hair into place. Rolling my eyes, I was about to deny it when I saw Sora fighting back laughter and decided it wasn't worth it. They wouldn't believe me if I said I didn't have O.C.D. and they'd laugh if I argued.

I mean, it wasn't like I had to do those things… I could stop whenever I wanted! I wasn't chained to those habits or anything…

"Just try to be nice when you first meet people, and they'll all keep you on the right track of what we usually do at school, ok, Roxas? Just try to be nice." Sora coached me, happily changing the subject with his voice lower and more subdued. I nodded energetically and forced a smile onto my face, making Sora stop and stare at me before an identical smile exploded onto his face as well.

"You've got the smile down." He complimented me, clearing his throat and shaking his head to get back into my character. Naminé smothered a grin with her pale, slender hand and nodded to the school where life was about to change. Just seeing the building of screaming, squalling children made my stomach drop and I almost turned and begged Sora to stop the madness. I almost tossed him his book bag and grabbed mine, ruffling my hair out of his style to fix it to mine. I almost gave in.

And then Naminé gave me a smile of encouragement and I was back in control.

"Remember to avoid talking to Riku." I whispered to Sora as he turned to give me a nervous glance.

"And Seifer and Rai are off limits unless you want to get into trouble." He advised gravely, sounding more and more like me. I gulped and nodded as we began walking down the sidewalk together.

"Don't talk to Kairi-"

"Xigbar is cool but Xaldin's a squealer-"

"Aerith is nice but sharp-"

"Hayner is a jerk but in a good way, so-"

"All you have to do is-"

"All you need to do is-"

"Just relax." We finished at the same time, giving each other matching looks of excitement and nervousness. Naminé smiled next to us as she grabbed Sora's belt loop and began turning him in the direction of the doors towards the AP wing. He turned and gave me a thumbs up, winking as he did so, and I couldn't help but smile at the way he was so confidant.

Whereas the father they strayed from me the more my confidence waned.

Sighing I peered around the outer area of the school, looking for the creepy hair colors that would signal that I'd found his group of people. There weren't any in sight, but Sora had told me that they'd be hard to find, so I cleared my throat and walked toward the bench they usually sat on to wait for them.

What was I doing? Why was I sitting here when I could be walking towards my second period class, AP lit? Why was I bothering with keeping Sora away from his friends that he clearly adored despite their obnoxious and illegal behavior?

Oh yeah. Illegal behavior. That's why.

"Hey Sora! Where's Axel?" I continued looking around for the shock of pink and the glare of red, slightly worried that they wouldn't show. I let out a great huff and fiddled with my tie, hating how loose and dirty I felt. I wasn't used to dressing like I'd just slept in my clothing.

"Soooora… hey, Sora!" I rolled my eyes that my brother was ignoring someone, as usual, and let out a snort of laughter that he was probably zoning out and not noticing that they were calling him. That happened a lot, especially when he was thinking too hard about things. I don't know exactly why he did it, but if he thought too much, he'd forget about everything that was going on around him and he'd not realize when someone was calling him.

"What the hell's wrong with you, Sora?!" All of a sudden I felt myself being lifted off of the bench and tossed unceremoniously onto the ground, my ass hardly a cushion to land on. Spluttering and shocked I scrambled to my feet seconds after I hit the floor to see who the hell had decided to attack me, ignoring the urge to rub my tailbone tenderly. I didn't see anyone of any great importance though, only a really strange girl who was currently standing on the bench that I used to be sitting on. I felt my face burning red with mortification and anger.

"There was more than enough room for the two of us on the bench." I snapped, taking in the clothing she wore. It was like she'd taken the school's uniform and made it into her own style. She wore a black scarf wrapped around her neck and dangling down to her knees, and instead of the regular standard white shirt, she'd torn the sleeves off. She was wearing black shorts and knee high black socks instead of the usual skirt, and her abnormally high tops were tan with lots and lots of laces. A black and white strap covered her forehead like a headband, and she had black gloves.

It was like looking at a boot-leg version of a ninja.

"I didn't want to sit on the bench, I just wanted to ask you something! But you were, like, spacing off… what's wrong with you today, Sora?" She tilted her head and then back flipped off of the bench, landing easily and cocking a hip out, her shirt slightly unbuttoned and rolled up for easier movement. Clenching my fists, I rolled my eyes at her stupid statement.

"Why don't you just go and ask So-" My voice broke off as I froze, realizing why Sora hadn't answered her when she'd called him earlier and why she was flipping me over benches.

I was Sora.

"I… I have to go. I can't help you right now." I hastily grabbed my bag and turned to leave, trying to remember who that crazy girl was. Names and faces raced through my mind as I ignored her calling my brother's name-my name now-and made my way towards the school doors to get to class.

Oh. Yuffie. Her name was Yuffie.

So interaction number one was an utter failure. I kept walking though, keeping my steps in check as I skirted the crowd and took a left instead of a right, heading towards algebra 2. Well, towards where I thought algebra 2 was… I didn't know my way around this place as well as I'd hoped.

"I like the hair, Sora." A deep, oil slick smooth voice called out to me, and I stopped to find who'd spoken.

"It's a different color… but it works." Another voice, deeper and gravelly.

"I think it's ok… brown is better." This one was higher and a little more malicious than the others. Then, I spotted the people speaking. They were standing slightly across the hall from me, their faces all turned towards me. Seeing my reaction to them, one of them jerked off of the wall and they sauntered towards me, probably not noticing the panic I was trying to push down. Sora hadn't told me anything about these guys. At all.

"How's it been, Sora? We haven't seen you around." The malicious voiced one leaned down slightly and smiled, no happiness in his grin. His tone was light and airy, but it seemed more like a façade, not his real attitude towards things. He had strange, silver hair that covered most of his face and hit in jagged ends at his jaw. He was pale and slender with the strangest blue green eyes I'd ever seen.

Oh, wait. I was supposed to be speaking.

"It's been… fine." I forced myself to say, mimicking Sora's voice but not his tone. Gritting my teeth I prayed they wouldn't notice the difference.

"Just fine? You hear that, Yazoo? Since when did Sora ever say, 'just fine'?" The one called Yazoo smiled blithely and shrugged. He had the same colored hair and the same queer eyes but his hair fell down past his shoulders, shorter bangs than the other. They seemed stranger than anyone I'd ever seen, and it made me nervous that Sora knew guys like this. They seemed far worse than his friends I had problems with.

Not that I'd ever admit that.

"Kadaj, this is a first." Yazoo replied. He glanced over at the third one, a thicker, more muscular guy with short, buzz cut-like silver hair and the same unsettling blue green eyes, and he smirked. "Though Loz doesn't seem to mind." The one named Loz grinned.

"Just means we're getting somewhere." Loz said with a shrug. Yazoo grinned widely and chuckled, the sound totally and wholly unwelcome. These guys gave me the creeps. I bit my lip and backed away slightly but their ringleader, Kadaj, stepped up to me with a raised eyebrow.

"Is it true? Are we getting somewhere, Sora?" He leaned back and sighed, taking in my appearance. "It seems like you're changing before our very eyes." Smirking, he shoved me, hard, into a locker and they all laughed at his antics like they'd never seen something funnier. Angry and humiliated, I jumped up to shove Kadaj back but I was stopped by a heavy hand on my shoulder.

"You've been giving me reasons all morning, Kadaj, and now I just can't stand myself if I let this pass up!" The new person laughed and I repressed a groan at the idea of more people coming up. Just how popular was my brother? I looked up to see a strange, pale red head rolling his neck back and forth as he pushed his goggles up higher on his forehead before winking at me. He had random spikes and a low ponytail, his uniform lazily put on and casually worn. Jutting a hip out he shoved Yazoo easily and then nodded his head to where a bald guy-just how old were these people?!-shoved Loz and the two staggered back. The bald one had dark glasses that he pushed up before they both stepped up to Kadaj with similar smirks, the red head folding his arms and the bald one cracking his neck. Giving me a snide glare Kadaj cleared his throat before turning his attention to them.

"Boy scout service?" He inquired nastily, stepping back as his lookalikes rushed to his side.

"Something like that." Another voice spoke, and I let out a groan as another guy decided to jump into the fray. Where were the teachers at a time like this?! Seriously, did no one notice this mini-fight happening right in front of everyone!? A guy with businesslike styled blonde hair stepped around the three silverettes and got right into Kadaj's face.

"Well look who it is… haven't seen you around, Rufus." Kadaj's smile became a little less sinister, and his eyes glittered.

"Stop messing around with defenseless kids; it doesn't suit you." I let out a choking noise of indignation and they all glanced back to me.

"I'm hardly defenseless." I blustered, noticing the way the red head and baldy exchanged amused grins before the red head patted my hair down, laughing.

"I suggest you leave him alone, Kadaj." The blonde haired guy said quietly. There was a silence before Kadaj shrugged and smiled down at me.

"We'll see you around, Sora." He promised before turning and disappearing into the crowd of people with his who cronies.

"You ok, Sora? They didn't hurt you, did they?" The red head was speaking, and I jerked my head up to see him leaning on the bald guy lazily as he talked.

"I had things perfectly under control." I informed them, much to their delight. The one called Rufus shook his head slowly and he straightened his white jacket, revealing a black jacket underneath and then the standard white shirt and tie. What was with all of these random fashion statements? In the AP wing we wore what was set out for us and there wasn't a problem! Well, except for Lulu. She just wore what she wanted and nobody thought to correct her. I think even the administration was scared of her.

"Well I'm glad you're starting to stand up for yourself then. Just let us know if they mess with you, ok?" Rufus smiled in a friendly way at me, and I missed a beat before returning it as well. He motioned for his friends to leave, but the red head eyed me for a minute longer, head tilted. Nervously, I adjusted my tie and hoped that he didn't notice anything too out of the ordinary.

"Your hair is awesome!" He suddenly exclaimed, ruffling it again for good measure before turning towards baldy and gesturing to it. "Rude, look at it! I didn't think he'd go blonde!" The bald guy grunted and gave my hair a speculative gaze before shrugging and turning away.

"Come on, Reno, leave him alone." Rufus said rolling his eyes and waving at me before they took a right and disappeared.

Situation number two would have to be a complete failure as well. It just told me that Sora not only had a problem with some brat named Seifer, but he also had dealings with those weird guys who seemed to be triplets or something. Either way, I'd never heard of them or seen them before, and the fact that Sora had never mentioned them hurt just a little. You would think my brother would tell me when something went wrong with his life, but he'd kept these guys quiet… I wonder why? And then the boy scout group… Rufus, Reno, and Rude. What were they, saints in school uniforms? Sighing, I brushed my shirt out of its rumpled appearance and kept going, starting to hate my agreement to the bet with every step I took. Without even realizing it, I began counting my steps, hoping to get far away from wherever I was going.

"Is he counting his steps?"

"Yeah… I think he is." I gritted my teeth and kept counting, trying to ignore the fact that they seemed to be right behind me. They didn't know why I counted my steps, did they? So why did it matter? If I got to certain places in a certain amount of steps one time, than it should be logical that every other time I went there I got there in the same amount of steps. Did they have a problem with that?

"What did we get ourselves into? He just tried to stand up to Kadaj's group!" I looked up at the signs that would show me to class.

"Nothing big… yet. Sora's done that before… just with bad results!" My ears turned red but I kept ignoring them.

"Axel, he's counting his steps." Yup… still ignoring them.

"And you're obsessed with playing instruments that no one in this country plays."

"Yes, but I don't count my steps." Clenching my hands into fists I stopped walking and whirled around, eyebrow raised.

"Is there a problem with me counting my steps?" I snapped, folding my arms and glaring venomously. The two people behind me exchanged amused glances before one of them scratched his head sheepishly and shrugged, embarrassed that I'd heard him. The taller one didn't seem to care though, and merely grinned smugly.

They looked like the ones from the Monday before. One of them was skinny and average height, his dirty blonde hair in some really weird version of a mullet/ faux-hawk. He had bright, cheerful eyes and an easy, confused grin on his face. He seemed to have a swimmer's build, and he had the same black blazer that the other one had.

Quickly, my mind supplied the name for me; he was Demyx.

The other guy was the one that shocked me the most though. He was tall… at least 6'3". He was skinny with broad shoulders and a slender waist. The blazer hung open to reveal a simple button up shirt and a vibrant red and black striped tie, making his slightly pale skin stand out. He had a shock of bright, scarlet hair that spiked randomly about his head, though it looked like he'd tried to tame it with gel. What got me-though I'll never admit this-would have to be his startlingly green eyes. They weren't a simple forest green, and they weren't a weird light colored green. They were a vivid, sharp color like shiny holly leaves, or polished jade. They stared down at me with slight amusement and then they changed to shock. Underneath his startling eyes were two upside down tear drops, the color an inky black and looked like it'd been painful to get.

This one must be Axel then. The main person I didn't want my brother around. The drinking, smoking, partying, tattoo-ing, bad influence that my brother was best friends with. That Axel. It clicked now. Pursing my lips I forced myself to look away from him and it was then that I realized that the one named Demyx was speaking.

"You're Ro- Sora." The mullet boy spoke with a bright, excited tone, but he hung his head as he almost made a blunder and called me by my real name. I unfolded my arms and nodded slowly, keeping my stern gaze on him.

"Do you have a problem with me counting my steps?" I asked him again, ignoring the way the red head-Axel-was staring at me with something akin to sarcastic amusement. His lips were twisted up with a sardonic grin, and he seemed almost like he was about to start laughing at me at any moment. Mullet boy's face twisted up strangely for a moment before he burst into laughter, reaching down to ruffle my hair, not put out when I jerked from his touch and glared even more. Why was this guy touching me?

"Sora doesn't usually count steps out loud, that's all. I'd suggest you keep it in your head or you'll attract stares." Axel answered and his voice was laced with sarcasm. His sound had a tenor-ish tone that seemed to blend arrogance and amusement in his words. I hated the way he talked. I didn't dignify him with an answer and merely turned away from them, scanning the signs for my class, hoping they'd leave me alone. Even if Sora wanted me to hang out with them, I was sure I could do things on my own, without tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum.

"Hey, calm down there! We're just teasing you, honest!" Demyx put his arm over my shoulder and began steering me down a hall I didn't recognize, his slouch seemingly natural and his gait long. I struggled to keep up, silently cursing my shorter legs and the fact that he didn't want to let me go. "My name's Demyx, and this here's Axel." He gestured to said Axel that had come up on my right side, a long gait made possible from his huge height. I tried to school my face into something remotely civil, but I don't think I did so well. They were slightly over-whelming, in all honesty.

"We already know your name though, don't we, Axel?" Demyx glanced over my head at him, and Axel gave a halfhearted shrug before politely leaning over and dislodging Demyx's arm from my shoulder. Awkwardly, I fiddled nervously with my tie and stepped back from them, walking a bit slower and less frantic.

"Name, age, grade, weight, height, aspirations; you name it, we know it." Axel drawled.

"Wait… I never knew his weight!" Demyx glanced at me as if expecting an answer, but I didn't bother giving one. I merely saw the algebra 2 classroom and bolted into it, ready to abandon them at the first chance. The room was a simple classroom like the classes on the right wing. It had the similar desks and the similar board, and seeing a front seat I started making my way towards it. The farther I stayed away from them, the better of it would be for their health.

And mine.

"Whoa, easy there, turbo." I was grabbed by the back of my collar and restrained, one of them easily pulling me halfway into the air and reeling me back towards them. I felt my face burn as a couple of people turned our way and smothered grins at my expense, but Axel and Demyx didn't seem to mind that they were attracting looks, even though we were in the middle of a classroom with them holding their supposed friend in the air.

"Will you put me down?" I hissed angrily, struggling to get out of my slight stranglehold. My shirt and tie were starting to dig into my neck, but they didn't seem to mind. Demyx slid to the front of me and beamed brightly tapping me lightly on the nose.

"We sit in the back of the room, silly." He chided, shaking his head and smothering a laugh. Peering into my face though, his eyes grew comically wide as he let out a squeak and jumped back. "Axel, put him down, he's choking!" Axel released me and let me stumble to get my bearings, coughing and spluttering as I massaged my protesting throat.

They were so going to get it.

"Hey, Sora, nice hair! Blonde looks good on you." A girl to my right gushed brightly, waving and smiling. Coughing slightly I turned to assess her, giving a weak smile and a half mumbled thanks. This girl must be Olette, based on her brown hair and green eyes. Turning back to my new babysitters I grudgingly followed them to the back of the class and sat down in the proffered seat between them.

"So you had a run in with Kadaj?" Demyx asked sympathetically, turning so that he faced me full on. I nodded curtly before I pulled out Sora's papers and book for the class, trying to hide my disgust at the writing all over the book and the way he'd jammed his papers between the pages. Pulling the papers out by the handfuls, I began lining them up by size and thickness, ignoring the quiz grades below an eight percent and happy that there was a test with a big A across the top. Forget the fact that it was a vocabulary grade and not a math grade.

"Who were they and why were they messing with me?" I asked tonelessly, still annoyed about those weird guys shoving me-and incidentally my brother-against the lockers. Axel laughed under his breath, and I turned to see him staring at me with a weird facial expression.

"They're triplets, as you probably noticed… and they're basically the epitome of a bully. Were you really going to stand up to them?" Axel tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, frowning as I nodded fiercely and continued organizing my brother's papers. He had a binder, why didn't he use it?! Opening the binder, I saw why. The entire thing was covered in doodles of random people and comics all over the paper and dividers. Sighing, I began to get him organized, exasperated that he couldn't do it on his own. That was brothers for you, though.

"They would have probably thrown you into a garbage can." Demyx said cheerfully, pulling out some paper.

"Have they done that before?" I asked with alarm in my voice. Covering my mouth I tried again, acting a little calmer. "They haven't done something like that, have they?" Axel laughed at my tone, but when I gave him a dark, angry glare he realized I was serious.

"Well, yeah, don't tell me he never told you?" Axel's eyebrows rose up high, almost to his hair line, and I wondered vaguely if he could actually get them to touch his hair line. Now that would be impressive.

Wait, my brother's been tossed into a trashcan!?

"No. No, he didn't." I felt the easily noted anger at the three guys who apparently had a habit of cornering my brother, and then the anger at him for not telling me. Or somebody who could help. Or me.

Yeah. Me.

"Oh… right…" Axel's voice awkwardly trailed of as he correctly guessed that I wasn't exactly pleased with hearing that little confession. And yet, Axel knew all about it; so did Demyx! And then that Reno, Rude, and Rufus group… the triple R guys knew all about it and apparently stepped in on occasion! Who else knew about it? Why didn't anyone think to come to me?!

Why wouldn't he tell me of things like that happening? Why wouldn't he come to his own brother to let him know that people were giving him problems at school? I mean, I may not be the strongest guy, but I knew enough administrators and was often talked about in the office for my grades and scores. All I had to do was drop a hint that my brother was having trouble, and then he'd be whisked away to safety, or the creepy peeper gang would be taken care of, easily.

"Well, this will be a fun month! I mean, this should be easy as pie, if you think about it." Demyx smiled and clapped his hands together eagerly, and I rolled my eyes at his enthusiasm. Easy as pie? My first day and I'm positive this is going to be hell. I've got some random ninja chick flipping me around, I've got a gang of triplets on my tail, and then I'm stuck with Sora's closest friends for a month. Easy? No. Root canals are easy. Spinal cord surgery is easy. This… this will be torture.

I must be a masochist if I was planning on going along with this. Yup… masochist.

"So who's the older one?" Axel asked curiously as the bell rang and a teacher walked into the room, her grey hair pulled up in a loose bun. I pointed to myself after I dropped a small stack of paper and set another on top of it. Demyx watched my action, slightly fascinated that I was organizing Sora's work.

"What are you going to do when he messes it up again?" Demyx asked as he mussed up the papers, as if to prove his point. Annoyed, I jerked the paper back into a straight edged line and threw him a venomous death glare.

"If I'm going to be using this for a month, I might as well be content with what I'm working with." I replied after slight deliberation in my head. I didn't know exactly what to say to these people, but I wished that they'd just leave me alone so that I could take notes for my brother so that he might pass this year. The teacher was up front and writing a few things on the board; a page number, a section, and the order to take notes. That was all? Where were the discussions and the in depth learning that classes should be like? Was this how my brother was learning?

"I'm telling you… sutas… it's a seriously widespread disease." Axel stroked his finger down his chin and gave Demyx a sidelong glance, both of them erupting in laughter as I gritted my teeth and pulled out a blank sheet of paper to do work.

"Whoa shorty, what are you doing?!" Demyx grabbed my pencil from my hand and stared in horror at the title I'd given the paper:

Sora Strife

Alg. 2 Notes

Pg. 352 Sec. 1 Part 1:

"I'm taking notes." I replied, staring dismally at the line that was streaked across my now ruined paper. Did he expect me to use this? Letting out a quiet sigh, I pushed the paper into the recycle pile and grabbed another clean sheet, starting the title all over again. I couldn't hold back the muted growl of irritation as Axel then snatched the other paper from me, streaking that one as well and thus ruining my second attempt at order. What was with these people?!

"Sora doesn't- _you_ don't usually take notes." Axel said with disbelief on his face. Giving him a look that quite clearly told him that I hated his guts, I grabbed a new, clean sheet of paper and began to write again.

"Well _I_ do." I snapped irritably.

"Why don't you use this one?" Demyx brandished the paper he'd stolen in front of my face.

"It's ruined." I mumbled, printing my letters precisely and neatly spaced.

"It's got one little squiggly next to the number 1…" Demyx pointed to the nasty lead pencil marking.

"Yes, and now it's ruined." I replied, rolling my eyes.

"I could erase it." He grabbed my pencil and began erasing it, scrunching the paper slightly and making me wince as he did so.

"And now it's by far ruined even more." I grabbed my pencil back and began writing once more.

"You can still write on it." Demyx protested, pointing to the paper.

"But it's ruined. And so is the one that your friend is holding." I vaguely pointed towards Axel as I wrote, trying to calm down slightly. No need to bust a vein, right? I was slightly shocked to hear surprised laughter and someone cough awkwardly.

"It has a squiggle less than an inch long, and it's ruined?" Axel asked, and the muffled laughter was still present in his voice. Looking up at him I nodded slowly, trying not to glower.

"Sutas…" Demyx intoned gravely, and I gave him an exasperated glance. All I wanted to do was take notes and pass the damn class, was that too much to ask? I didn't need to deal with this whole stupid situation right now, thank you very much!!! I stared down at my paper, unaware of their stares at the back of my head. When I glanced up though, I saw them staring and gave an irritable, "What?" as my question to their ogling.

"That's all you had to say, shorty. Take notes, by all means." Axel smirked and leaned back in his chair, eyes sparkling. Oh… I'd said that out loud? I hadn't realized…

Was that a sign of craziness? Speaking and not realizing it?

"Yes, it is." Demyx informed me, covering his mouth to stifle the laughter. Ah… I'd done it again. Letting out a low groan, I let my head smack the desk, ignoring the slight squeals of excitement and curiosity as a couple of people asked if I was ok.

"He's fine… Sora's just not in Kansas anymore…" Axel informed them.

"Nor am I in AP wing…" I moaned miserably, flinching as Demyx patted me excitedly on the back.

"That's the spirit!!" He exclaimed as I looked up irritably and gave him a withering glare.

So far? Sora was so losing this bet.

* * *

_:( Oh, poor Sora... Roxas's day hasn't been going well and it's only the first period of the day! On that note, let me know what you think :D I love getting feedback from you guys! That many reviews really made my day!_

Roxas- Seriously... why me?

Axel- Because, the author is bored and doesn't have anything to distract her, so she takes it out on her characters.

Roxas- So... how is that fair to me?

Axel- ::cheerfully:: Oh, it's not! It's called Character Abuse, dear Roxy.

Roxas- Don't call me Roxy.

Axel- Ah, sutas... glad it's not contagious.

Lias- Review please! :D


	4. The Drop Dead Syndrome

_Gee, thanks for all of the reviews, guys! I was really excited to see all of them! I typed this up as fast as I could!_

_NOTICE: School starts soon... gasp._

_:( Not ready to go back._

_Here you go!_

* * *

Axel:

I personally don't like Roxas Strife. Actually, delete the personally. I don't like Roxas Strife. Yup… that worked a lot better. Sounds mean, but I really don't like him. I mean, what kind of brother are you when you're hardly involved with your sibling's life? Your twin, for that matter? I'm best friends with Sora, and I can't help but care what happens to the guy. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to the little shrimp, and I'm just a friend! If he were blood related, it would probably be even worse!

So why couldn't his own brother act like he cared?

I mean, I've seen the kid from far away. He always looked sullen and distanced from everything, like he couldn't bring himself to care. Was he always like that? I'd never personally met him, but I knew he didn't care much for me. Or any of my friends, for that matter. Haha, what can I say? When I'm good, I'm bad, and when I'm bad… I'm good at being bad. Got it memorized?

So when Sora begs me all week to look after this guy who can't be there for his brother, I have to admit, I wasn't too enthused. Babysitting a kid with the sutas disease? What if it was contagious? I didn't want to be caught with whatever problems the kid had. And yet… because Sora asked me, I knew I had to. His own brother couldn't be there for him so I wanted to be.

So when that Monday rolls around, I'm ready to try and be nice, knowing he'll probably try to make life hell for my little group. I'm cool with that, he can try, but then again… he's never met Larxene, so that'll just be a crazy ride on its own. Of course, when we finally get to our spot, the only person there would be Yuffie, her legs folded pretzel style as she waited for me to give her the burned CD I'd promised. No Sora look-alike was to be seen. Great. Just great.

"Thanks a heap, Axel! This is going to make my day, seriously!" Yuffie jumped up and sprang, nearly toppling me to the ground as she gave me a great big hug. Laughing, I awkwardly pried her off and gave her a strange look.

"Why wasn't your day made in the first place?" I asked, fishing around my pockets for my red hot gum and ignoring Demyx's worried whispers about where we might find, "Sora".

"Well, I was looking for you, and Sora was sitting here all by his lonesome, so I decided to help! He kept ignoring me though, and when I finally flipped him over to get his attention, he glared at me and stomped off! I don't know what he did to his hair though, but I have to say, he should stay a brunette. I mean, the blonde looks nice but the chemicals must have done something to him because boy did he look pissed!" She pulled a face, probably trying to mimic what Sora' brother looked like, and then rolled her eyes, obviously not going to let his actions go.

"Wait… which way did our angry blonde Sora go!?" Demyx asked excitedly, peering into Yuffie's disgruntled face. Jabbing a finger towards the left wing, we gave her a much appreciate thanks and then took off towards the left wing hallways, hoping to catch him before he ran into somebody he shouldn't.

"So… how are we going to find him in a crowd? He's kinda short…" Demyx peered around, scratching his head in slight befuddlement as I looked for an angry, blonde version of my best friend.

"I don't know, I've never seen him up close before." I replied frustratedly, pushing through crowds of people who snapped at me for being rude. Not really listening (or caring, for that matter) I looked at my cell phone to see that we didn't have a lot of time to be playing hide and go seek. Sora's brother would probably skewer us if we were late for class.

Seriously, where was this kid?! Hadn't Sora told him to wait for us?! What would happen if Seifer ran into him? Or worse… Kadaj. The kid would be roasted for breakfast and devoured. I'm not one to judge based on how smart you are, but nerds generally don't last long in left wing.

"I like the hair, Sora." Ahha! Bingo! Excitedly, I peered around the crowd of students, jostling and meandering through their small circles and groups, trying to see who was talking to "Sora".

"Have you seen him?!" Demyx showed up worriedly, holding to blondes up by their torsos, their faces identically panicked as he swung them around, looking through the crowd. "Here are two suspects, but I don't know!" One of them was kicking, trying to get away from Demyx's worried stranglehold, and with an impatient sigh, I made him relinquish his hold on them.

"Sora's lookalike, not just any random blonde, Demyx!" I ushered the two slightly afraid blondies away, letting out a shout of pain as one of them stomped on my foot and scurried away. Jumping up and down in pain, I gave Demyx a withering glare.

"Sora with Blonde hair." I hissed between clenched teeth, rubbing my tender foot. Demyx sheepishly nodded and turned to leave, looking around frantically for "Sora". He slipped around a few different people, but I knew he'd show up in less than a minute with another poor, helpless blondie, saying he had Sora.

I had less than a minute to find "Sora".

"I've been… fine." His voice! It was Sora's voice! Bewildered, I looked up, trying to see where Sora was, but instead of Sora, all I could see what Kadaj, Yazoo, and Luz cornering some poor, helpless kid. Groaning, I looked around for Sora OR Roxy-what's-his-name, Demyx coming up and shaking his head to show his failure at finding the diseased sutas patient. Great. Now Sora was going to go crazy when I told him I'd lost his brother!

WHAM! Halfheartedly, I looked over to where Kadaj shoved somebody, roughly, and then moved back slightly to admire his work. In that glimpse of time, I was then hit with a ton of bricks to the chest. It was a blonde, helpless, angry version of Sora! I began making my way towards them, relieved yet concerned to see him collect himself easily and move forward like he was about to do something. Did he not know he was going to be decimated if he fought back!? The kid looked tiny! And then, it hit me square in the face. What it was, I don't know, but suddenly I couldn't continue walking towards them. Instead, I slipped to the side to wait, my heart thundering around my rib cage.

I saw a flash of red, and then Reno and Rude made their appearance, their smirks identical as they calmly stopped the bloodshed that would have been. Demyx stepped up behind me, peering around my shoulder as I watched them interact, Roxy-whatever-his-name-is staring with barely concealed annoyance building up in vividly blue eyes.

"Hey, that's Ro-!" I clapped a hand over Demyx's mouth as he excitedly turned to me to point and shout and exclaim. Giving him my best death glare, I motioned to them and put a finger to my lips, Demyx nodding slowly and slinking down to peer around the trashcan and watch.

Meanwhile, I only had eyes for the blonde.

I don't know why they instantly referred to him as Sora. He looked nothing like Sora. Sure, they were _similar_, if I had to say they looked alike. Similar. That's all. Similar skin tone, but Roxas (that's what his name was!) had a lighter shade like he stayed mostly indoors. Even from where I was standing, he looked so different from his brother. His lips were fuller, his eyes an icier blue. His stance was not the relaxed way Sora stood. He was straight backed and confidant like he knew what he wanted and what he was doing, even pressed against a locker with random people flying at him. His hair was obviously different… blonde with light streaks running through it naturally. It seemed almost messier than Sora's, but it was styled the same. It looked thicker… run your hands through it thicker…

"Hey Axel, dinner this weekend still going on at Aunt's house?" I jerked up from my peeping tom stance and blinked owlishly at my cousin, Reno. He raised an eyebrow and chuffed me on the chin, smirking. Nodding to the blonde, he raised his eyebrows.

"Didn't know you had it for Sora. Isn't his hair awesome? Jump on it later though, dear cuz' of mine… he seems touchy." Reno paused for a second while Demyx straightened up and proceeded to examine Rude's stiff stance beside his best friend. "And I don't mean the good kind." Reno corrected himself, slinging an arm around Rude as Demyx clicked the stoic baldy's glasses. Demyx had a fascination with trying to get Rude to react to him, but so far all Demyx had succeeded in was making Reno laugh and Rude raise an eyebrow.

"Dinner this weekend… mom's making lasagna." I replied, ignoring the way he was laughing as Demyx made faces at the glass reflection. Rude stared back, arms folded.

"Awesome! I haven't had lasagna in forever!" Reno moaned, putting his hands to his stomach and leaning against Rude. Turning away, he lifted his hand up in a two finger salute and walked away, leaving Demyx and me to catch up to Roxas who was making his way down the hallway, back looking like it was forced into a slouch. Hmm… from behind it did look like Sora with different hair… maybe this could work… wait, what was he doing?!

"Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten…" Was this kid counting his steps!? I blinked in surprise and tossed Demyx a confused expression while Demyx just stared with wide eyes. Wait… oh no. We were tailing the guy and he was doing something weird. I just knew Demyx was going to ask. I just knew it. You know how you know when your friend is about to do something stupid? Or when you just know that the old lady is going to drive fifteen miles under the speed limit because she's just _old_? You just know things. Just like I knew Demyx would ask. He always asks. Can't be helped.

"Is he counting his steps?" Ouch! There it was. See, I told you so. He always asks. Wincing, I watched as the boy's back straightened ever so slightly, the Sora walk leaving.

"Yeah… I think he is…" I didn't want to answer, but Demyx would continue to pester until I could shut up him.

"Twenty one, twenty two, twenty three, twenty four…" Seriously!? He really was counting!

"What did we get ourselves into? He just tried to stand up to Kadaj's group!" Demyx gestured to the locker area behind us like I hadn't seen what had happened. The kid glanced up at something before his back straightened even more and his neck went stiff.

""Nothing big… yet. Sora's done that before… just with bad results!" I tried to be cheery to shut Demyx up, but all it succeeded in doing was making the kid's ears turn a bright shade of red and his left hand clench slightly before it relaxed again.

"Thirty three, thirty four, thirty five, thirty six, thirty seven…"

"Axel, he's counting his steps." The kid clenched his hands again, and I let out a soft sigh.

"And you're obsessed with playing instruments that no one in this country plays." I replied, referring to his obsession with sitars. He had so many different instruments but his passion had to be the indie based guitar-looking thing he strummed religiously.

"Yes, but I don't count my steps." I watched with slight amusement as the kid clenched his hands into fists before he turned around with a flesh eating glare. Demyx froze in shock at his random about face, but I froze as his icy blue eyes turned to me and fixed me with a stare that was blank at first, and then turned quickly to disgust as it clicked in his mind who I was. Now that I was closer though, it became even clearer to me like I'd been slapped in the face. He looked nothing like his brother. Apart from the annoyed expression marring his features, he had me hooked with his features alone. Did he look like Sora? Hell no. He looked better.

And I was so screwed.

* * *

Sora:

I wasn't really sure that this was a good idea.

Why? Because I could practically _smell_ that I was in the AP wing. It was the way that the kids wore their uniforms the correct way-the left wing had their own fashion sense with clothing-and that they wore them with style. It was like stepping into a manga with a private school… everyone was classy and _cool _looking… it was almost unfair! They all seemed sophisticated and relaxed with themselves whereas my side of the school was… kind of crazy. They were loud and pushy and… well, kind of like me. This side seemed like a different life entirely with the way that their chattering wasn't like monkeys… it was like collected adults or something!

And it smelled like books. Weird, right?

It was like a completely different world. Once we reached the double doors where the classes began lining hallways instead of the lockers, the atmosphere became hushed and relaxed, a couple of teachers walking the hall with students, talking in low, subdued tones. Eyes wide, I numbly followed Naminé, hardly noticing the people that called my brother's name. Why wasn't he answering them…? I mean, he probably never did, but why would he ignore that many people? He's nice… sometimes…

"Nice hair, Roxas! I like the color!" Wait… what did Roxas do to his hair? I looked around curiously to see what he'd done, but Naminé tapped my side to tell me not to say anything. It then hit me, and I felt really, really dumb. Not even the dumb like, "I just walked into a wall," or the dumb like, "I can't walk, talk, and chew gum at the same time." It was the dumb that could make pregnant pauses and awkward turtle babies all at once.

I was Roxas.

Well, not really Roxas. But, enough Roxas to seem like Roxas. I was wearing his clothes, walking like him, and walking next to my little sister. I was the one ignoring people. Probably the same way Roxas did. Er… not the same way, but still ignoring people! Well, at least I was fitting that category! Er… right?

"You're going to AP literature, ok, Roxas?" Naminé gently tugged my wrist to get my attention, and I snapped to it, eyes wide and mouth hanging open slightly. Nodding dumbly, I was about to walk away from her when she let out a quiet laugh and softly closed my mouth.

"Straight back, closed mouth, hostile glare." She reminded me and turned me towards the hallway I was supposedly supposed to go to. Nodding confidently, I began walking towards the long stretch of hallway, fists clenched to fight away the nerves in my stomach. That first stretch really made me nervous. It was no wonder Roxas was so… so, so _blergh_ all the time! These people seemed so boring!!

Walking down the hallway, I tried to act like my brother. I tried to keep my back straight and my face set in a mask of no emotion. And it worked!

I think…

But once I reached the end of the hall, I realized something that was probably really important. I couldn't say anything about it though, or it would raise questions, and then the whole, let-Roxas-live-my-life-to-get-back-to-normal plan would be an utter failure! And then I wouldn't be able to put dashes in between so many words anymore. Either way, I realized something that was really important.

I was kind of… you know, just a little bit… lost?

Yeah…

I didn't recognize any of the people around me, either. Most of them gave me a glance before they kept walking, not realizing that I wasn't who they thought I was. They just thought I was Roxas… a very different looking Roxas. Panicked, I looked around for a sign that I was close to where I was supposed to be, but there was nothing! There was no teacher that I'd recognize, and there were no students I knew. I even tried looking for Zexion, but there were no slate haired sulking boys running around in the hallways. Lucky me.

Glancing at a clock I saw that I had only a few minutes to be to class before the bell rang. Biting my lip worriedly, I began walking a little faster, trying to find a clue. The teacher's name was Dr. Yensid… something like that. Roxas said he had a grey beard and dark, beady little eyes. Ah… great description. Now I just had to find the guy.

I looked from face to face, ignoring the way people were starting to give me funny looks as I made my way down the hallway, back the way I'd started. My palms became a little clammy and I let out a huffy breath of frustration that I couldn't find Dr. Yensid. Who named their kid Yensid anyway?! Too short, too fat, too young… too girly, too sporty… I let my eyes wander, and I didn't realize that I'd come to a complete stop in the hallway until someone promptly ran into me, bowling me over and landing me on Roxas's book bag, slightly dazed. I stared up at the ceiling in a weird comatose state, the person who'd run into me stumbling around like a funny, enraged bull as they blustered out angry words.

"Why do you have any business stopping randomly in the hallway like there isn't a flow of traffic going in either direction? Honestly, can't you- oh… hey… Roxas." I continued to lie on the floor, staring up at the ceiling as the rant that had just seconds ago been going at full force stuttered to a stop. Curious, I looked up over my now rumpled shirt to see a slightly shocked boy with strange, silvery hair leaning down towards me with a slight frown on his face. For a moment I worriedly thought it was another one of Kadaj's brothers, but when I blinked and looked again, it hit me that this guy didn't really look like Kadaj. He had really pretty aquamarine eyes that peered down at me with shock and suspicion, and his skin had the sheen of someone who played outdoor sports. He wasn't tan, but it wasn't computer glow pale.

Wait… I was supposed to know this guy… right? Something told me I should know him, but I couldn't think of a reason why. Who was he? Scrambling up from my sprawled position on the floor, I leaned forward and stared at him right in the face, trying to figure it out. Who was he?!

Whoever he was, he obviously didn't like me leaning in like I was. Leaning back, he stood up straight and offered me a hand, head tilted and eyebrows drawn down in thought.

"Roxas, are you ok?" He asked me slowly, pushing his bangs slightly out of his face so that his eyes stood out more against his dark lashes. Reaching down slowly for my book bag, I fumbled with the strap and then yanked it up, eyes still locked with his as I managed to nod slowly, dumbly. Who was he?! His name was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't seem to remember it! What terrible timing!

"Uh… right… I'll take that as a yes." He stuffed his hands into his starched straight dress pants and nodded down the hallway, raising an eyebrow as he began to walk. "You're going to class, right?" Nodding dumbly, I began following him as he cut through the crowd, his name on the tip of my tongue and my jaw slightly slack from shock. Why was I supposed to know him!?

"So what were you doing down there? You don't have econ until 6th period." He turned to look at me, and as if I just now realized that my jaw was open, I snapped it shut and continued staring.

"Uh… I was looking for… Lulu." I blurted out the first name that came to mind, the scary girl's face popping into my head. Then, I remembered that she was the stalker. Oh, crap! Why would I be looking for her?! Sure enough, the guy turned to give me a disbelieving face, and I tried to correct myself.

"She… has something. Of mine." I cleared my throat to sound a bit more like Roxas, praying the guy that I was supposed to know didn't notice that my voice was higher. Roxas had warned me. Too many differences and we were done for. Voice and hair were unlikely to change in one week. Greeeeeeeeeeat.

"Oh, that makes sense." The guy gave me a sidelong glance and I hastily looked away, trying to see if Zexion was in the hallway. I desperately needed his help. I continued following the kid that I was supposed to know, him glancing weirdly at me every now and then and me twitching away and staring at something else as he did so.

So… this was so far going badly. I'd not only gotten lost, but now I'd run into someone I was supposedly supposed to know. That couldn't be good, right? Not only that, but he'd noticed that I was different, and now he kept looking at me! Roxas was going to kill me. I mean, it's one thing for a random smart kid to be suspicious, but for Roxas's competition to realize that there was-

WAIT!

"RIKU!" I blurted out, stopping mid-step and clapping my hands over my mouth as I realized just what I'd done. Sure enough, the boy in question stopped and gave me a quizzical gaze, eyebrow raised in surprise and-I suspected-fear. Yeah… I was sure Roxas didn't shout random names out. Right.

"Yes…?" He let the word drag out as he turned towards me head on, waiting for an explanation. Burning red in mortification I brushed past him, trying to get away. Roxas said stay away. Great. Juuuuuuuuust great.

"Where are you going?" I heard Riku catching up with me, and I willed my feet faster.

"I'm going to class, dammit!" I cried, pushing around a couple of students and trying to get away. I didn't have any such luck though as Riku simply grabbed my shoulder and held me firmly in place, his gaze dark and his tone smug.

"Um, Roxas? Hate to break it to you, but class?" He pointed in the opposite direction, "is, uh, that way… for you." I felt my eyes pop out of my head and I blindly tried to put them back so that I could ogle this Riku guy some more. I looked in the direction that he was pointing, and then I looked back at him, frustrated and a little worried that I'd been caught.

"Right," I said defensively, pulling my shoulder from his grip, "right… I knew that." Squaring my shoulders, I gave him my most impressive Roxas face before turning and heading towards the door with the name, Dr. Yensid, plastered across the top next to the room number in white, block letters. I didn't look back to see if Riku, my new competition, was still watching me with the same baffled expression, and I didn't stop when people called my name, saying random things about my new hair and that they'd see me in class. When I reached the door I peered around the room before I spotted a slate haired emo-looking kid reading a book in a chair towards the far back of the room. Putting on a burst of speed I raced towards the seat next to him and slumped into it, giving him a withering glare as he let out a polite cough and turned the page.

"Almost late for class, Roxas?" The boy asked in a monotone voice, not even looking up from the page he was reading as he spoke. I stared at him in slight shock, eyes wide.

"Why weren't you out there in the hallway?! I was looking everywhere for you!" I pointed back outside comically and then back to him, eyes wide and mouth gaping as he lightly pursed his lips and kept reading.

"Because I get to class and then I read. I wouldn't want to ruin your façade by my being out of class and in the hallways when I'm quite clearly always in the classroom. Merely looking out for you, I assure you." Another page turned and I gaped.

"So you were keeping suspicions down by abandoning me to the mercy of Riku?!" I spluttered, the bell letting out a piercing shriek as a five minute warning for all students to get to class.

"Precisely." A small smirk appeared on the boy's face, and he glanced at me for a moment before his smirk grew just a little bit. Confused, I looked at my clothing to make sure it was still put together, and then looked at him in confusion. Seeing my lack of smarts in the situation, he let out a soft, impatient sigh, and gestured to my face. "You look like him." He explained, looking back to his book, his one visible slate colored eye roving across the words at super-human speed.

"Oh… is that… bad?" A girl passed us and let out a small giggle, waving shyly before reaching her seat and collapsing into it, her friends leaning in and glancing at me impishly. Oh. Oh, no. That had to be that Kairi girl that Roxas had warned me to ignore. Giving her my best unhappy face, I turned back to Zexion and waited for him to answer me.

Another page turn, and then another soft, barely noticeable cough.

"You look like him, but your facial expressions and word placements need work. He would not rush into a room, panicked and angry. He would sit down and silently seethe. The voice is… adequate, but better than I thought. The tone, however… needs work." He glanced up and fixed me with a blank, bored stare.

"Oh… so I should shut up?" I guessed, eyebrows raised. I had the urge to scratch my hair and fix my spikes, but I resisted. Roxas's hair style was touchy and easily messed up. I had to be very, very careful.

"It would be helpful, yes. It would be best not to speak unless wholly necessary." There was another smirk, and I knew something was off. I watched the way his finger roved the line he was reading, and then I watched the way his gaze didn't leave the page. Letting out a soft sigh, I saw his finger pause briefly before his eyes stopped moving and they concentrated on the page. Another second, and then he continued reading, his jaw a little tight.

"Hey, wait a minute!" I exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at him. "You just want me to shut up so that you can read!" Zexion stopped reading and then there was the smirk again, his lips pursed in anger and slight, begrudging amusement.

"Oh, I can't get anything past you, can I?" He murmured, snapping his book shut and fixing me with a stare that kind of made me nervous. It was a steady, I-eat-idiots-like-you-for-breakfast kind of glare. Yay, more hyphens! Anyway… I shifted uncomfortably and tried to stare back, but it was a little unnerving. "Make me wonder how you got into AP classes… oh, wait, you didn't." His eye narrowing in annoyance, he jerked his head around and opened his book back up to the page it was just on, leaving me feeling like I'd just been insulted blatantly.

"Er, no… I didn't." I agreed, not seeing where he was getting at. So what if I wasn't in AP classes? I knew smart kids out of AP… I mean, there was that senior, Rufus. He was really smart with sciences but didn't want to bother with the college level classes until, well, college.

"My point." Zexion found his place easily, and then continued reading, leaving me to my own thoughts. As the bell rang my new teacher swept into the room and fixed us all with a beady stare, his lips pursed. Then, I realized why Roxas had said such a short description of him; that was all that was needed. The guy's beard was _long_, nearly hitting his waist in a solid, steely grey color. He had beady dark eyes that bore into every student's face before he turned to the board and instructed in a wizened, old man's voice for everyone to pull out their homework. Fumbling with the binder for AP lit, I looked at the pristine pages and dividers and was almost nervous to touch anything. I had a habit for destruction.

Looking under the homework tab, I then flipped to the Thursday tab and then the tab for first quarter work. Wiping away the imaginary perspiration at having to work so hard just to find one homework piece, I almost shat a brick when I saw that there was an essay there next to a three lined poem.

"Your haiku's should contain denotation, connotation, allusion, or paradox, and should have a very specific tone. Do not mistake paradox for irony, and your explication should state clearly which one of the two it contains and why it is detrimental to the haiku to have either or. If there is enjambment, be sure that your motive is clarified and there should be no anaphora in your haiku. It is a haiku so there should be no stanzas unless you're looking for an incomplete grade. In other, words, an F. The explication should be at least two pages, double spaced, and if it is not, do not proceed to turn in utter garbage to my desk. Your next assignment is on the board, please pick one partner and begin working." The man's voice abruptly cut off and he began taking up papers, stepping slowly and saying a few words to students as he walked. Instead of pulling out my paper though, I simply stared, slack jawed at him and then at the essay my brother had done. Three lines… he'd done a four page essay on _three_ lines!?

"Have you never seen a poem explication?" Zexion asked with a dry laugh under his breath, barely glancing up from his book as he set his work onto the desk.

"No… in my class, we write poetry… not _this_." I pointed to the monstrosity that was an "explication." I mean, really!? Poetry was something that our teacher had so that we could be creative for a little bit, and even then some of us had trouble! And yet… as I read some of the things that Roxas had to say, I couldn't believe it-though the fact that I couldn't understand half of it was probably a reason why. I mean, it took all the creativity from a poem! It made them seem like any regular book or something where everything was explained. The "deepness" of a poem was gone. Zilch. Nada. Kicked in the face.

"He thought we'd enjoy the challenge." Zexion informed me, making me shake my head. Pulling the papers out carefully, I put my head in my hand and morosely held the papers up as Dr. Yensid came to our seats to collect the homework.

"Well, Mr. Strife, you've once again out done yourself. I will enjoy reading this." Picking up the paper, he gave me a knowing look that I returned weakly. This was the first teacher run-in. Roxas said that if I could fool him, I could fool any other teacher simply because he was the wisest. Nervously, I gave a Roxas smile-looked more like a wince-and forced myself to sit up straight.

"Though, I'd never expect you to fall into the fad of chemically altering your hair." He gave me a disapproving look and then turned to Zexion, his eyes falling on the book that the boy continued reading, oblivious.

"The Forgotten Realms, Zexion? A good book… over a thousand pages, I presume?" Zexion looked up and gave the fleetest of nods before handing the teacher his essay and giving a slightly easy smile.

"It also contains the historical background as well with the extended addition." Dr. Yensid gave an approving nod before giving me a slightly disappointed glance and moving on.

"What's up with him?" I asked curiously, leaning over to where Zexion was pulling out a sheet of paper and giving me a sour look. I don't think he liked me much. Actually, I'm positive he hated my guts.

"Roxas and I are his favorite students. You've conformed to what's popular, dear Roxas." He smirked and gestured towards my hair. "By dying your hair, it shows you're concerned about fitting in." Raising an eyebrow, he shook his head and began studying the assignment on the board, ignoring me completely as I gaped at him.

"But- but I can't help but have brown hair!" I blustered, pointing towards my hair dramatically and jabbing towards the general direction of brunette spikes. "I was born that way!" I tacked on lamely, lowering my voice so that no one heard that statement. Roxas would burn me slowly if that rumor spread. People already thought his, Cloud's, and Naminé's hair was straight from a bottle. Poor guys…

"You'll just have to live with the idea that a teacher you've just met thinks you're superficial." Zexion informed me with no comfort in his voice whatsoever. In fact, if I focused on his face long enough, I could almost see an evil, sadistic smirk gracing his face as he began making an outline of whatever was on the board for us to do. The smirk was gone though, and his one eye glowed with contentment. Whatever the assignment was about, it obviously was something he enjoyed doing. Maybe he was just an awkward, nervous and shy guy who hid behind his cold shell so that he wasn't hurt. Maybe he was actually a nice and kind person who was really helpful once you got to know him! I smiled at the thought, lost in the idea that my brother's friend was nicer than he seemed.

"Are you going to continue gawking at me like a slightly deranged, hormonal adolescent or are you going to at least attempt to pretend to participate in the assignment that your low IQ will never be able comprehend?"

Or maybe he was the spawn of the devil. Yeah, that sounded right.

* * *

I followed Demyx around to the next class, AP Government. The teacher was a loud, harsh man who seemed to boom, bellow and shout whenever he spoke, no matter what. He had thick dark hair covering most of his arms and face, and his dark eyes bore into everyone's face as he spoke. As I walked in, trying to get around him spotting me, Zexion slipped in beside me, his nose in his book as he walked, not looking up as he agilely moved around the kids crowding the general area. Nobody tried to talk to me, thankfully, and I just followed Zexion to the back of the classroom where he seated himself in his seat and then motioned for me to take the seat in front of him.

"As a pre-terror warning, Lulu is in this class, and Dr. Kerchak favors her disregard for the rules. There will be no escaping." His monotone voice sounded strange from behind, and turning around I faced him with slight confusion, waiting for him to notice the lost look on my face.

"I didn't see Lulu in the hallways." I said when he continued ignoring me, his eye racing across the page he was reading.

"She's rather good at popping up unexpected." A page turned, and he coughed lightly.

"Unexpected ho-"

"You've got three seconds to tell me what you've done with the real Roxas." A cool and gleeful voice intoned gravely behind me, and I felt the point of something sharp dig into my neck. Freezing, I knew my eyes were bugging out my head, and staring at Zexion, I waited for him to come to my rescue, but the sadistic guy just let out a soft sigh and continued reading. Who was behind me!? I started to turn around, but the sharp, pointy thing jabbed me, and I flinched.

"Start talking, Roxas knockoff." She commanded, and I imagined the random stranger stabbing me with a kunai. Would she have a kunai at school? Or maybe she sharpened a pencil and was going to give me lead poisoning? Would dying of lead poisoning be dreadfully painful or painfully dreadful? Or what if I didn't die? What if I lived the rest of my life infected with lead with no way to get it out of my system!?

Wait, did she just call me a Roxas knockoff?

"I'm hardly a knockoff!" I objected, but whoever it was didn't like that answer. They gave a low, unhappy chuckle and let the pointy object (kunai was never ruled out) glide over my neck, making my hands clammy and my stomach flip flop. For any of you who have never experienced their stomach detaching itself from their digestive tract to jump around, it's really, really uncomfortable.

"Hardly a knockoff? Then what did you do with your hair, I wonder?" The voice moved closer, and cool breath slid over my ear, making me shiver unpleasantly. "Don't tell me dear old Roxas finally submitted to peer pressure and dyed his hair?" She pinched my cheek, and I let out a squeak, terrified for my life. Zexion looked up for a moment, grey eye glancing fleetingly at us for a moment before he continued reading, letting out another cough. I wondered vaguely if I was ever going to be let go, and I began counting in my head when either the bell would ring, the teacher would yell, Zexion would save me, or the girl would leave.

_One, two, three, four…_

The bell rang, but the girl didn't move, waiting for me to speak.

_Five, six, seven, eight…_

The teacher began yelling, but still the girl didn't move, waiting for me. I gulped, but didn't say a word. Maybe she would shank me? Could you shank someone with a weapon that was not a shank? Shanked with a shank… wouldn't that be a repetitive sentence? You could say someone was cut, but you never said cut with a cutter… you were cut with a knife, a pencil, or a stiletto heel…

_Nine, ten, eleven, twelve…_

"Not going to talk?" The girl purred, and I shook my head slowly, trying to mind communicate with Zexion. Would he really leave me to the rabid dogs?!

_Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen…_

Another page turned. Yes, yes he would leave me to the dogs.

_Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty…_

Another soft cough, and then an annoyed sigh.

_Twenty one, twenty two, twenty three, twenty four…_

"Lulu, sit down." Zexion finally spoke, voice morose and annoyed as he glanced up again, and then back to his book. The girl beside me gave a bitter, "Hmph!" before I felt the pointy object leave my prickling neck and the girl who attacked me setting in the chair next to me. Eyes wide, I sat down the correct way, relieved to be alive.

The girl beside me was simply… scary. The weapon that had been pressed against my neck was actually a strange, pointy nail file that she scraped across one nail slowly, eyeing me with a weird look on her face. She wore something that was nothing like the uniform, a gothic Lolita dress that looked half kimono as well. Big, thick boots that laced up to her knees looked leather and hid black, lacy stockings that stopped just above the boots she wore. The dress was big, poofy at the waist, and had lots and lots of black lace at the edges. A big ribbon was tied up in her hair that was pulled away from her face, revealing pale white skin and scary, laughing gold eyes. Beside her was a lacy umbrella and a chibi skelanimal purse along with a book bag that was also lacy and overdone.

Scary.

"What do you do when it rains?" I blurted out, eyes trained on the umbrella that wouldn't be able to do its job right. I heard an impatient sigh from behind me, and I was given a really weird look from Lulu as she raised an eyebrow and glanced down at the umbrella before smirking and shrugging slowly.

"I open it up and stand under the part that covers the most of me." She replied with heavy sarcasm, dragging her nail file across her thumb nail and grinning wickedly.

Right… Roxas wouldn't ask that. Oh damn.

The teacher began shouting in a booming voice, pulling out a projector that had a lot of notes written all over it. Kids began copying down the work obediently, some of them talking quietly as they did so, and I was about to join in, not wanting Roxas to be left behind.

"So why'd you dye your hair, Roxas?" Lulu asked me curiously, her cat-like eyes turning to study me with a smirk. I cleared my throat awkwardly and then glanced up at the teacher that was still booming in his big voice, but Lulu waved a hand impatiently, rolling her eyes.

"He doesn't care what I do." She explained, rolling her eyes. Unable to help myself, I leaned in, curious.

"Why?" I asked, looking back to where the guy didn't seem to care that Lulu was talking. Her grin grew into more of a smirk, and I feared for my life. Behind me, Zexion gave another cough, and I wondered if he needed a fruit breezer or something. He was always coughing!

"He's the AP gov. teacher… but he supports my lack of uniform." She patted her dress happily, her lips curving up like a predator's. "Honestly, he used to be part of anarchy… but he'll never admit it. I saw the tattoo on the back of his neck once, though." Eyes wide, I looked back at the teacher like I was trying to see his tattoo, but she rolled her eyes and tapped my nose.

"You can't see it now, duh. He showed me because I asked him why he supported my rebellion." She leaned back in her chair, impressed with herself while I merely gawked at her. This… was the problem Roxas was telling me about? She seemed scary, yes, but in a good way! I had a hard time believing that this was the person Roxas was talking about. I mean, Zexion was scarier than she was! As if on cue, he let out another soft cough, and I flinched. The coughing was the worst part.

"So why'd you dye your hair?" She asked me, back to filing her nails.

"Rebellion?" I answered weakly, and the booming in the room stopped as the words slipped past my lips. Dr. Kerchak frowned from underneath his bushy eyebrows and found me slightly cowering in my chair, his lips pursed in thought. Everyone glanced back to where my seat was, saw me, and then turned back to the teacher, waiting for him to speak. Dr. Kerchak looked from Lulu to me before a sudden grin broke over his face, the thick black beard hiding it. Why did Roxas's teachers all have beards anyway?! I barely had any peach fuzz!!

"Roxas dyed his hair?" He boomed, looking over my hair and then back to my face. I nodded slowly as he stared at me with an unreadable, scary face, and my stomach detached itself to jump around again. Painful. Very painful. What if this was the guy to find me out? Why would Roxas think Dr. Yensid was the one to worry about!? This guy was scrutinizing me within an inch of my life here!

"You dyed your hair to be rebellious?" He demanded, folding his arms over his barrel shaped chest. I shrunk into my chair and nodded weakly, waiting for him to find me out. Oh, Lord, my face was wider than Roxas's! What would happen if we were found out because of my too wide face?! Doomed to failure from an accident of running into a door as a child! Sweat bloomed on my forehead and I stared wide-eyed at the teacher in front of me.

"Rock on, freaky bro!" He crowed brightly, laughing as the class traded looks of confusion before looking back to me and laughing. Eyes rolling into the back of my head, I slumped out of my chair and onto the floor, a nervous wreck.

"So what can Roxas tell me about the Xin dynasty?" Dr. Kerchak boomed. Lulu leaned over me and prodded me experimentally with her silly little nail file.

"Uh… Kerchak? I think he fainted."

* * *

Sora:

So I wasn't going to live down my embarrassing fainting maneuver. When we were walking down the hall towards my locker, the red headed girl with the bright, happy grin giggled and pinched my cheek as she went by, earning a shocked stare from me and a glower from Zexion and Lulu.

"You're so cute, Roxas! I don't know what happened over the weekend, but whatever it is, keep it!" She made a peace sign to me and kept walking with her friends and giggling as they all turned back to me to see my reaction. Realizing that I needed to glower, I gave my best impersonation of the sutas disease. I think it worked because her friend (Yuna?) winced and turned away from me, whispering to the red headed girl.

"Yeah, Roxas, keep the change." Lulu sarcastically stated as we walked, and Zexion gave a low growl of annoyance when she spoke. Lulu flipped him off, and I sensed some tension between them. How? I don't know.

"Dim-witted." Zexion murmured to me, leaning in slightly in a natural movement like he was simply stepping a bit too far. I turned to look at him questioningly, but his nose was back in his book and he looked like nothing different had happened. Wow… he was good. Like, stealthy-ninja-throwing-kunai good. Maybe he was a ninja in a past life? That would be awesome!

I saw a few familiar faces in the hallway from regular classes and turned to look out of the window where people would gather for lunch. I tried to see if Roxas was down there, but there was no flash of red to indicate that Axel had pulled him unwillingly to the gathering of the rest of the school. How was Roxas doing? Was he hating life, or had Axel gotten him to loosen up yet? I sighed and continued walking, eyes on the growing lunch room with the smiling people. To be Roxas, I'd have to miss out on happiness for awhile.

Suddenly, I was grabbed and reeled back like a fish on a line, slamming against the lockers painfully as I looked up to see an annoyed Zexion, his book shut and eyes murderous. Well, eye murderous. I don't know if the other one was murderous, but maybe it was? Or maybe it was a happy eye, bright and sparkling?

"Mind elsewhere, Roxas?" He asked in a deadly tone, nodding to where Lulu was grabbing her books from her locker, humming a scary song under her breath that reminded me of the song Larxene sang when she was mad at Marluxia.

"_So I'll bury you,_

_I'll bury you slowly, _

_You asked for it,_

_And I'll deliver,_

_Don't worry baby,_

_I'll cut you deeper-_

_Than you ever cut me-"_

Shuddering, I looked back up at Zexion and gave a weak smile, awkwardly turning so that I wasn't flat against the cool metal. Zexion gave me a withering glare before he closed his eyes (eye?) and then let out a slow breath, releasing me and gesturing to Roxas's locker. Luckily, I remembered the combination and was able to get what I needed before we began heading towards the AP lunchroom in the back of the library, Zexion turning me forcefully in that direction so that I didn't run to freedom.

"So, where's that brown haired kid that comes up to you every lunch period?" Lulu asked curiously, craning her head around and waving with a smirk as a few kids called her name and nodded in our direction. Lulu must be pretty popular to hang around my brother and still have other friends. Though, my brother seemed to get a lot of attention from random girls too. The one in the morning that called his name? And then the harpy gang he always talked about… yeah. I wish I was that popular with the girls in the left wing… I might actually get a date once in awhile!

"What do you mean?" I asked, using his perfect tone and wording. Zexion glanced up with what I hoped was approval before he looked back to his book. How did he walk without running into anything?! I was just a little jealous. I could hardly walk and talk at the same time…

"You know, the brown haired kid that always wants you to eat lunch with him?" She asked persistently, a knowing gleam in her eye. It hit me that she was actually talking about _me_, and I forced a dry chuckle, not entirely sure that I should be happy that she knew about me. What did Roxas say about those failed attempts?

"I don't know." I lied, frowning. "What do you know about him?" I asked curiously, wondering what Roxas told his friends. Did this stalker Lulu have any solid information about me?

"He wants you to eat lunch with him. Persistent little blighter. You always turn him down though… why?" She asked as she waved at another group and gave an air kiss.

"Wish I knew." I muttered to myself.

"What was that?" Lulu asked sweetly, and I forced an awkward grin in return. It would be terrible if she heard. Zexion turned another page to his book and I shrugged with little commitment. Maybe if I looked annoyed, she'd shut up? But I was already supposed to be annoyed looking, so what was I supposed to do?! Roxas was limited in ammo here!

"Nothing." I replied curtly and she shrugged, nail file back in hand as she inspected her nails.

"Feel bad for him. Maybe you should eat lunch with him one day. Then you wouldn't be so surly when we eat." She gave me a disapproving glance but I ignored it, trying to be brave. I couldn't change anything that my brother did, why try!? "You probably took him aside and said he was annoying and needed to stop pestering you." She tacked on, smirking as I nodded again, stomach dropping. Did they really know nothing about me? Did Roxas really not mention me as his brother, but as the kid that asked him to eat lunch all the time? My heart panged a little and I sadly bit back the reply I would usually make, opting for silence. Behind me, Zexion made a noise in the back of his throat like he was disappointed about something, but I didn't have the heart to ask what. He hated me anyways, right?

Lulu continued humming, the tone changing as she swung her chibi purse and smirked sadistically. I knew the lyrics to her new song, too.

_"Dirty little secrets, _

_Pried from lying mouths,_

_Stole from stupid imbeciles,_

_Find what they're about,_

_We're going on a lying hunt, _

_To see what we will find,_

_To my surprise we pulled the stunt,_

_Left your deceit behind-" _

We managed to make it across the library without me ruining anything else, but there was a somber way that Zexion appeared that made me uneasy. Well, more somber than before. He was already somber, but now he seemed really, _really_ somber, like someone had run over his dog. Did he have a dog? No… he seemed more like a cat person.

The "cafeteria" was a small room that seemed like it'd been fashioned to resemble one with circular tables and then one long table. I followed Zexion to one table and sat down next to him, pulling my lunch bag out and staring distastefully at the food Roxas had prepared. Doritos, really!? Lulu sat her stuff down slowly but didn't make any move to sit down with us. She stood above her chair, the funny look on her face again. I set my stuff up all neat and orderly like Roxas probably would, but didn't want to eat it. It looked… icky. Zexion wordlessly reached over me and plucked the Doritos from my little creation, earning a scowl from me and an eye roll from him. He handed me a twinkie that I gladly accepted instead, devouring it mercilessly. Oh synthetically textured poofy, creamy goodness, you will soon be _mine_.

Lulu reached around me as well, plucking the apple from my small creation, earning another glare. What was _she_ going to give me?! Seeing the look on my face she let her lips curve up in what was supposed to be a smile, but it chilled me. Zexion gave a small sigh and a slight cough, and as if that was a signal, Lulu made her way over to the door, giving a speculative glance around before she closed the door slowly, making my pulse thud as she locked it as well.

Turning to face me, her golden eyes flickered dangerously before she crossed the distance and lifted me up, slamming me against a wall as the nail file was once again pressed against my neck. Pushing feebly against her I made a half strangled noise but Zexion ignored me and continued reading, munching on _my_ Doritos. Lulu leaned in and smirked again, raising an eyebrow and pushing the nail file against my adam's apple and letting out a low chuckle.

Terrified out of my mind and not exactly sure what the hell was going on, I gurgled pathetically and contemplated a quick will in my head for who would what my stuff when I died. Maybe this was why Roxas wanted me to get rid of her? If she pulled nail files out on him all the time, I understood!

"Mind telling me why you're impersonating my best friend?"

Oh... shit.

* * *

_:) So what do you think? I personally lurve Lulu... she makes me smile :3 _

_Reivews are loved and cherished!_

Roxas: I can't believe that you did Axel's pov in here... he doesn't deserve it.

Axel: I'm a better actor than you! I deserve it more than you do!

Roxas: Oh, really? Is that why you were looking at me like you wanted to devour me?

Axel: ... we don't discuss this.

Roxas: Oh, whatever, just review, yeah? I like seeing what the public has to say about me.

Axel: Trust me, they can't stand you.


	5. Musicology Syndrome

_So... I'm back! Did you miss me? :D Hope so!_

_Sorry for the delay, but right now I'm balancing Tantalize, Adrenaline, and The Never Better Syndrome for the Kingdom Hearts section and then about four others elsewhere... a hopeless cause? Yes... I would think so. But! I've already started and it would be a shame to stop just because I'm a horrible procrastinator... _

_Anywho!_

_Thank you ALL for reviewing! It really made me smile to see what EVERYONE had to say! Sorry if I haven't responded to any questions, my current ap classes are kicking my butt beacuse of all of the tests they want to cram down my throat, but never fear! Lias has it under control!_

_And yes, I did just speak in third person. _

_I'm currently running on very few hours of sleep, so I do apologize for any spelling errors in advance! Just point them out to me so that I know that I really can't spell good running on low energy. :D I'm just a dork like that. _

_Enjoy! :)_

* * *

Roxas:

I was contemplating suicide.

Correction… I was going to commit suicide.

There, much better.

With the way Demyx and Axel kept me in between them as we shifted to the next class, chemistry, it was like they were in the secret service.

"Hey, Axel, I wonder… what would it be like to have gills?"

Ok… a very incompetent secret service.

"It would be hard to breathe, Dem." Axel replied easily, turning me this way and that, nodding cheerfully and smugly nudging me to wave as a few people called my name and informed me that they liked my hair. How many people knew Sora, anyway?! A lot of girls, but the looks of it, and yet he didn't date? That was suspicious in itself… he acted like he was girl crazy, but was he? Or maybe he just acted like a girl…

That sounded just about right.

"Er, why?" Demyx asked, confused. I let a harsh breath out of the side of my mouth and looked at him, slightly annoyed.

"He was being a smart-aleck. If you had gills above water, it would be quite impossible to breathe because animals that have gills live underwater and the gills reject the water they inhale for the oxygen in it." I explained as I readjusted my bag and flinched when Axel let out a low chuckle and ruffled my hair. No wonder Sora's hair was always messed up… his friends kept him from looking decent!

"Well isn't he a smart one." Axel chided smugly, turning me down another hallway and leading me into a room where a slightly intimidating man stood at the doorway, glaring with narrowed eyes. His long, light blonde hair framed his face and made his vicious blue eyes stand out. As we passed him he let out a low hiss of anger, and I flinched away from him, brushing against Axel and getting whiff of something that smelled strongly like cigarettes and the cologne, curve. Instead of repulsing me though at the obvious scent of smoke, I was drawn in. It was almost like a calming thing, and I took an instinctive breath in, closing my eyes for a moment to relax from the stress that I could feel building up. God, he smelled… so good. It was amazing, and I took in another slow breath, not noticing Axel staring at me with a frown on his face, as well as confusion.

"You ok?" Axel asked, and I jerked out of my light stupor, shaking my head and feeling my ears burn as I walked towards the lab tables and followed Demyx to the back of the room where a familiar catch of pink hair caught my eye.

"Never better…" I muttered softly.

"Sit with Marluxia." Axel nudged me to the blob of pink and I gave him withering glare, embarrassed with the fact that not only had I leaned in towards him like a captivated teenager, but I also _liked_ how he smelled. One word: mortifying.

"No need to touch me." I snapped as I moved around a group of girls and delicately let my bag fall onto the lab bench. The pink haired man raised an eyebrow at me as I slid onto the stool, and I felt a little nervous to see him staring. What, did this guy want to gawk at me, too?! He looked slightly feminine with the thick pink hair that fell around his shoulders and his slim build, but his slightly angular face made it clear he wasn't a pushover. The way he stared at me with blue/green eyes made me a little unsettled.

"Are you gay?" He asked me bluntly, leaning in to study the way I couldn't help but turn a violent shade of red at his question. Across the bench from us, Axel and Demyx were watching me with similar smirks, silently shaking with laughter at the way I stared, wide-eyed at the pink haired man who had the nerve to ask _me_ what I was. Did he not see how he looked to other people!?

"I- uh, I'm not- I'm not gay." I replied, gritting my teeth and glaring, clearly out of my element with these people. All three guys leaned back with the exact same look of disbelief on their faces, letting out gusts of breath and shaking their heads slowly, rolling their eyes.

"It must be a Strife family flaw…" Pinky stated gravely.

"They all deny it!" Demyx exclaimed.

"Well, just two… the other two seem perfectly normal." Axel shrugged, laughing at the look of confusion and slight mortification on my face.

"I- you can't be serious- you can't seriously think that we're- we're-" I stuttered, clutching my brother's shirt tightly.

"Honey, my gay-dar's never wrong." Demyx informed me slowly, tapping his head. My mouth snapped shut at that, and I glared menacingly at him, knowing my face was still red and childish looking, but not caring one iota about it. Maybe it would make me appear a bit fiercer? They didn't seem all that fazed though, so I have a slight hunch that my brother had warned them about me.

Ah, way to make myself sound like I had psychological problems…

"You must have some sort of screw loose in your brain because I'm not gay." I snapped, pulling out the chemistry book and binder to distract myself from their ridiculous antics. Axel kept laughing at me though, even when Demyx awkwardly looked down, put out by my hostilities and pinky looked away, bored with the conversation already.

"You're a feisty one." Axel commented as I gave a slight look of horror when I pulled out the book to see it in worse condition than the other. What did my brother do to get his books this disgusting? Pulling out the clumps of paper and prying the chunk of gum off with a pencil, I began sorting through papers and ignoring Axel's expectant gaze as he waited for me to reply. As the bell rang and the strange teacher walked into the doorway, I kept working through the nasty pile of trash that had managed to build up in the book, sorting once again by size, grade value, and shape.

And that's how that class went. It took me the entire hour and forty five minutes to get everything in order, my task becoming complex when I could feel three different stares on me, one of them lingering longer than the others. When I looked up, pinky and Demyx had the decency to look away or pretend not to have looked at all, but oh no, Axel just kept staring right on at me, face thoughtful and amused as I'd give him a dark look and continue working, setting the chemistry work aside and slightly surprised that the teacher didn't comment on this lab bench's lack of participation.

What was he staring at me for?!

When the bell rang I was pulled to my feet and promptly pushed and prodded down another long hall, people waving towards our group every now and then as they saw someone they knew. Or, well, someone they thought they knew. People on left wing seemed a little denser than the right wing students. Was my disguise really all that impressive? Was it really as simple as clothing, books, and face shape to convince people of who you really are?

Well, it did help that we were twins… but I digress.

The group guided me down a set of stairs and then took a left, chattering brightly to each other and kindly leaving me out of their conversation. I think it was finally sinking in with them that I wasn't _ever_ going to like them. Ever.

"I wonder how 'Roxas' is holding up." Demyx said thoughtfully, looking up to the connecting hallway where the AP students were moving towards either their next class or to lunch. Because there were so many students, our lunch ran on a schedule of four lunches each, lasting thirty minutes roughly. Thankfully I had first lunch on both days, but as we neared the actual lunchroom I began to be nervous. What would happen if someone recognized me? What happened if I had to talk to more people? How was I supposed to be Sora when I was feeling the feelings I felt as Roxas? Sora wasn't nervous around people so he naturally had many friends, but I wasn't so lucky! This was where I'd mess up, I was sure.

And Axel kept staring at me!

I turned to give him a famous Roxas-Strife-shrivel-your-eyes-from-your-sockets glare, but when the sound of the cafeteria grew, I could feel myself wanting to draw away from the noise and leave. Instead of glaring, I felt my head turning to stare morosely at the ground in front of me, hands stuffed into my pockets. To distract myself I mentally counted steps.

"Probably don't want to count those steps when we hit the chow-hall; Sora isn't that weird."

Dammit! Why did that keep happening to me?!

* * *

Axel:

There was no doubt about it; I was screwed. Whether the kid realized it or not, I couldn't keep my eyes from drifting towards him. It was kind of like a slap in the face to do that though because I wasn't supposed to like this kid, at all. But I'll be damned if he didn't look so uke-cute that it was a sin. If only his personality wasn't the equivalent of a clam with rabies, I'd be in trouble.

"Six, seven, eight…" And he was counting his steps again! Looking back at Demyx and Marluxia incredulously, I shook my head and tapped his shoulder, jumping back as he jerked away and gave me a murderous glare that made a little of me die inside.

"No need to imagine me impaled on a rock; just letting you know that you're counting again." I grinned smugly as his eyes grew a fraction of an inch bigger before his ears turned red and he hung his head, scuffing his brother's shoes on the ground, hands clenched in his pockets. What was with this guy? I'd almost been joking when I said he had sutas, but the longer the day dragged on with this kid, the more I decided that I was onto something with this disease. I could be a worldwide famous scientist who discovered the reason why siblings were such pains in their brothers' asses. I would be rich for that, I'm telling you right now.

As we walked into the cafeteria I dragged Roxas through the line, not wanting to lose sight of him and get into trouble for losing Sora's emo brother. The kid didn't put up much of a fight though, his eyes jumping from place to place and his hands stuffed into his pockets like they were stuck there or something. When Belle walked past and waved, I noticed that his fists would clench in his pockets and he would grit his teeth painfully like it hurt him to be noticed.

"You'll be discovered, acting like that and all. Loosen up a bit, will you?" I began guiding him to the group where everyone was seated, eating and joking around.

"I'm trying." Roxas said through gritted teeth. Glancing down at him-seriously, how short was this kid?!-I saw the way his eyes darted around, almost nervously, and I laughed, not able to help myself. Was this kid really that anti-social that he hated being around people? Oh man, that was just priceless. Really.

"Never take drama class." I advised him, nudging him towards the blind spot where people wouldn't notice him unless he moved in my direction. We didn't need any AP kiddos seeing him and ruining our plans now did we?

For Sora, I'd say no.

"So this is the guy?" Larxene leaned in slightly, her eyes sparkling with sadistic amusement. Marluxia was sitting next to her but I could tell that there was tension. Obviously he wasn't off the hook yet.

"Yeah, this is 'Sora'." Demyx make little hand quotations and smiled brightly as Roxas pulled his lunch out and stared at it dejectedly.

"Scrawny little thing, isn't he?" She asked curiously, tilting her head to watch as his ears turned red and he forced himself to concentrate on the PBJ and the Doritos. Demyx reached around him and handed him his ho-ho, stealing his chips that I promptly stole from him to give him my baked Doritos. Roxas didn't even look up from his lunch to watch the exchange, though he seemed a little happier to see the ho-ho than the Doritos.

"Not anorexic or anything like Axel is." Marluxia bit into his chicken fingers and looked over at Roxas speculatively. "Though he denies being gay." Larxene raised an eyebrow at the still unresponsive blondie.

"That's interesting… do you think it's genetic?" She asked coolly, aware that Roxas was gripping his sandwich a bit too tightly to be normal. Slightly fearing that he would snap and go crazy ape-shit, I edged away a little, leaving Larxene wide open.

"Probably not, he just doesn't believe in a gay-dar." Demyx said brightly, tapping his head and ruffling Roxas's hair. Said blonde flinched away from the gesture and I imagined him hissing like a snake. Smirking at the thought, I didn't notice him looking up at me with his death ray until it was too late. Dammit, I was staring again!

"Do you think that he-"

"Good Lord, maybe you should simply direct the questions towards me since I'm the subject of your scrutiny? I believe I could answer them better than any dimwitted fool here." (A/N- **Am** **I the only one who pictures him speaking with a British accent here**?) Roxas finally snapped, dropping his sandwich to the floor and leveling Larxene with the glare I'd just gotten moments ago. Demyx flinched and we both turned worriedly to asses Larxene's reaction to his direct attack. Marluxia was holding her hand and starting to say something, but Larxene merely smirked and leaned in, eyes deadly.

"I could snap your neck in eight different ways, kid." She whispered sadistically. I looked over at Roxas to see his eyes a wee bit wider than before and his mouth hung open in slight shock. Yeah… Larxene had that affect on people. Clearing his throat a little, Roxas leaned back and shook his head slowly, disgust pouring out of him like a waterfall.

"You're a monstrosity." He stated calmly, making me face-palm and Larxene grin brightly.

"Why, thank you." She simpered before releasing Marluxia's hand to continue eating.

As the ending of lunch grew to a close, I began to be a little nervous. It was a two day, meaning we had classes 2,4,6, and 8. Classes were fine and all… if I ever showed up to them. But the next class was one that as students it was our sole duty to never attend. In fact, the only kids that ever attended were ones that had no life, no hope, or no self-preservation.

Health class.

We all had health class together, and we all happily skipped it, deciding to hang out at the front of the school like we had an off campus study hall. Did we have off campus study hall? No. but no one ever asked, so we never got caught. And usually we were all fine and dandy with that idea because it never occurred that we'd have Mr.-I-attend-all-of-my-classes on our backs for a month. I knew that Demyx wouldn't have the courage to convince him to skip with us and Marluxia wouldn't care either way. Larxene wouldn't have the patience, so naturally that hellish lot would fall to me. How in the world was I going to convince the star student to skip?

Maybe I could tie him up and just drag him along with us? Ah, that would work… until I had to untie him for his drama class with Demyx. Then he'd _really_ go nuts! Or we could just knock him out… he'd have a concussion the size of Europe, so he couldn't complain! Or maybe I could just ask him to shut his yap and follow nicely? Maybe that approach would soften him up into actually complying with my wishes?

Yeah… No.

And so it continued… the list of ideas ran from setting him on fire to just abandoning him to the mercy of health class. That was tempting, but I knew I'd have to face Sora afterwards, and that would just be painful. He could make anyone feel guilty with just a stare alone. Why? Because he was innocent looking, innocent acting, and- hell, he's just innocent. Nothing could touch the kid.

And then the bell rang and I almost pissed my pants. Everyone stood up in unison except Roxas and me, him calmly putting his trash together and moving across the way to dump it in the trash can the way Sora never would. I was about to make my way over to him to correct him like he was a little puppy dog when I saw another kid intercept him on his way back. He was wiping his hands like he had something undesirable on them and his lips were lax in obvious depression, but when he saw the guy making his way towards him his eyes grew a fraction bigger and his mouth snapped shut like someone had slapped it.

"Hey, Roxas!"

Oh.

Oh no.

It was an AP kid.

I stopped from running over and stopping the meeting, knowing that it would simply give things away faster. What could I do? It hit me that the AP kid probably didn't know that "Roxas" had dyed his hair yet… and thought that this was just an out of the norm sighting of his anti-social school mate. Or maybe he'd seen Sora and now he was freaking out because he thought he was going crazy?!

He seemed not to have noticed how Roxas's outfit had changed, or his hair for that matter. Or maybe he was running the comparisons in his head? What if he was comparing Sora and Roxas in his mind, confused. Oh no… what if he figured it out? These AP kids weren't there for no reason… they were smart!

Roxas's back was to me, but I could see that something was different about him. Around us, his back was ram-rod straight and his fists were clenched. The Roxas that I was staring at though… honestly looked like Sora. He looked relaxed and was actually _swinging _his arms back and forth, rocking on the balls of his feet. The AP kid was nodding slowly and thoughtfully, his face a little embarrassed as he listened to what Roxas had to say. The AP kid then glanced over at me and then nodded in understanding. What?! What was Roxas saying about me?! Oh, oh no…

He was laughing.

Why were they laughing?!

The AP kid seemed a little awkward as he laughed and raised an eyebrow to a beaming Roxas.

Wait, a _beaming_ Roxas!?

His smile… was huge. It was a bright, rainbows and kittens smile that looked like it would be welcoming on an actually happy and loving person. It was a stunning smile that mirrored Sora's so well that it was almost like a slap in the face. In front of the other kid he looked so relaxed and happy that it was like seeing another person.

If he acted like that all the time then it would be only a matter of time before the smile was a natural one instead of a fake one. And though I mentally back handed myself for thinking it, I couldn't help but think that it was a pretty nice smile for a face like his. I'll give you a moment to shake your head at my hopeless situation.

Take your time.

… Are we good?

Good.

Saying something to the AP kid Roxas let out a bubbly, excited laugh before waving and making his way towards me, a light about him and a bounce in his step. Giving me a light wave he passed by me and turned the corner, heading towards health class.

Turning back to the kid with the shit-eating grin still covering his face, I scowled as he smirked and wiggled his fingers at me before walking away, all high and mighty.

Oh. He was going to get it.

"Whoa, little one." I grabbed his shoulder and inwardly winced as he let out a muted curse under his breath. Whirling around he yanked his shoulder from my grasp and fixed me with a baby murdering glare.

Yeah… regular Roxas was back.

"Where are you going?" I asked him blankly, my actual question running right out of my brain. My actual question really was something along the lines of, "What the _hell_ was that?!" But I withheld the desire to ask him. I had a feeling that he would bite my head off.

"To class." He replied shortly. "I suggest that you do the same." At this I froze and scratched my head awkwardly, ruffling my spikes and shrugging. This was the moment; this was where I blurted out what I'd held back since lunch.

"Uh… we don't really… go to class during this period." I informed him lamely. Roxas froze at that and stared long and hard at me, his icy blue eyes narrowing as he processed the words I'd just spoken. Suddenly I doubted that he had actually flashed that smile in the lunch room earlier.

"So are you saying… that my brother skips class when he should be in health class?" Roxas asked me quietly, gaze not wavering. If anything, he seemed to zero in on my face like he was trying to burn the skin off.

"I…yes." I really had no good reply to his question. It was either that or lie and him turn around and go to health to be eternally scarred. Sora had put him under my care, so I was stuck with him whether I wanted him or not.

"And he has been doing this since the beginning of the school year?" He asked in a very dangerous voice. Meekly, I nodded under his death gaze and he rolled his eyes, probably disgusted to be looking at me.

There was silence between us as the bell rang again for a two minute warning and students milled around us, either going to class or lunch.

"And do you honestly expect me to condone this?" Roxas finally asked me angrily. Pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and pointer finger I exhaled slowly. Though I was a little terrified of what he was going to do to me, it was still frustrating to have to have this battle. Sora just skipped, that simple. Why did his brother have to act like it was against the law?

"Sora does it." I hedged.

"This does not make it an acceptable thing." Roxas countered just as easily, if not angrier.

Sighing, I scratched my ear before I shrugged and leaned down close to him. I didn't want to make it a battle and I was just annoyed enough to pull off what I was about to do. I don't recommend this for anyone under the age of 16 or anyone who has to deal with a very smart teenager who suffers from stick up the ass syndrome.

"Look," I said softly, trying to match his murderous stare, "I'm going to break it down in a way that you can understand. You're an AP student, right, Roxas? You can keep up then. You've got a cover. In order to keep your cover you have to do certain things that you don't necessarily want to do. Instead of seething and moping around like a child, how about you suck it up like a man and stop acting like I've asked you for your first born child on a platter." Straightening up to my full height I assessed the way his eyes flashed in begrudging acceptance before I smiled brightly and put my arm around his shoulder to guide him towards outside and temporary freedom from school.

"I am only complying with this to get this hell over with as soon as possible." He informed me with gritted teeth. I laughed brightly at that and shrugged, uncaring. I had one month to rip the proverbial stick from Roxas's ass and so the first day wasn't necessarily going to be the nicest day. I was planning on it being an absolute hell. And hey, if Roxas wanted to rise to the fight, I wasn't going to burst his bubble. He would loosen up sooner or later, that was just a fact of life. And once he did then I wouldn't have to deal with his b.s. whenever Sora wanted to hang out with my friends and me.

"Oh, I know. I know all about the bet, Roxas. You hang out with us for a month; if we can't sway your decision then Sora doesn't hang out with us." He nodded along to my words, apparently satisfied that I understood.

"And with the way you and your rabble are behaving, you're not going to win any popularity votes." He said scathingly. Rolling my eyes I shrugged and informed myself that I didn't care, really. He could talk all he wanted but any human that spent enough time around us was bound to loosen up, which was Sora's original objective anyway. Sure, Roxas thought that he was getting involved in a bet that would "help" him get rid of Sora's nasty friends… but he didn't know that it was my job to show him a good time away from school and away from his whole depression that he'd lodged himself into. That was ok though because if he knew that that was Sora's goal, he'd never allow it. Apparently, he was just difficult like that.

"Well it's nice to know where I stand, Roxy." I forced myself to say cheerfully, giving him a wink.

"If you're going to make obnoxious, annoying nicknames for me then can you please create one that's not centered around a girl's name?" Roxas bit out scathingly. Laughing, I shook my head.

"But that wouldn't be a part of who I am, Roxas. And I'm all about being real with people." A little disgusted with me, Roxas rolled his eyes and looked down at the ground, mouthing numbers as he counted his steps. I watched the steps fly past us as we made our way to the designated spot, a bounce in my step as I knew that he was thoroughly annoyed with me. When someone walked past he made sure to wave and smile brightly, but other than that he followed along silently, lips pursed and face blank.

* * *

Roxas:

I hate my life.

Correction… I hate Sora's life.

There, much better.

As we reached the official "skipping spot" I detangled myself from Axel's hold and promptly seated myself on the stone wall next to Demyx who was listening to music and swinging his legs along to the beat. Marluxia's and Larxene were talking about something that sounded strangely like overthrowing a party plan and Axel sat on the other side of Demyx, listening with an easy smile on his face.

I really dislike that man.

"Do you want to listen to my music?" Demyx asked cheerfully, pulling out a head phone to hand it to me. Shaking my head I started to let my mind wander when a head phone was shoved right into my line of vision.

"Oh, come on! I think you'd like it!" He exclaimed brightly. Glancing over at him, I raised an eyebrow.

"I don't really listen to music." I said in what I hoped to be a detached, monotone voice. Since I was breaking school rules with a band of delinquents I figured that if I treated them like I really didn't want to cooperate with their scheme then they would sooner or later get the hint and let me go to class. Honestly, Sora would be lost without me. Didn't he know that if he didn't show up to class, he'd fail? How was he going to graduate hanging out with people like this?

It was hard to keep that façade up however when I glanced at Demyx to see that he had a look on his face like he'd been kicked in the balls with steel toed boots. Next to him, Axel was shaking his head slowly and arrogantly. Honestly, what did he always have that smirk on for? He glanced over at me before his lips curled up into a Cheshire cat grin and he leaned back to watch.

Suddenly, a hand clamped down on my upper arm and I was jerked around to see Demyx staring at me with a demonic, possessed look.

"What are you-"

"What. Do. You. Mean. You. Don't. Listen. To. Music?!" He asked in a low, scary voice that made me question not only his intelligence but also his sanity. A little freaked out I leaned back and away from him, glancing over at Axel who was watching with bright eyes and a shit-eating grin.

"I mean precisely what I say; I don't listen to music." I yanked on my arm but the grip on it was surprisingly tight and strong. What did this guy do, a hundred pushups a day? His eyes took on a scary luster and he shook his head slowly, leaning in close to me.

"How can you- what makes you think that- _music. Is. __Life_." He intoned in a dark voice. A little scared for my safety I yanked my arm out of his grip and stumbled back, tripping over his book bag, managing to lose my balance and fall flat on my ass, once again. Larxene giggled at the show and Marluxia managed to smirk before he looked back at her expectantly. And Axel…

Well, his grin had grown like he was a cat that had finally eaten the canary.

"Oh, Sora, are you ok?" Demyx's face cleared of any demonic shadows as he leapt over the bag to help me to my feet. Giving him a glower that I hoped would dispel any hope of him befriending me, I hopped back onto the wall with as much dignity that I could muster. Unabashed with my hostility Demyx hopped up next to me and sidled close, holding the ear phone out to me. Honestly, was he truly this persistent?

"Sorry, Sora, I just couldn't imagine that there was someone in this lifetime that didn't listen to music! I love it; music is beautiful!" He offered me the ear phone but I hadn't forgiven him yet. I shrugged and looked around the front of the school, watching as teachers came in and out and hardly gave our group a second glance.

"I just don't have time for music." I replied as he pushed the ear phone to me once again. Would he honestly not let up?

"Have you ever really listened to music before?" Demyx asked with wide, wide eyes. I gave him a look of disbelief and disgust but he was serious. Ok then…

"Yes, I have listened to music before. I used to listen to it quite a lot." I wasn't sure why I was sharing that information with him; maybe I thought that if I told him that he'd leave me in peace? Either way, I merely shook my head at his gasp of excitement.

"So you listened to it a long time ago! Oh, so we just have you get you back into the habit!" Demyx pressed the ear phone towards me and I glared.

"You make me sound like a project or something." I pushed the piece of junk away from me.

"Aren't you?" Axel asked quietly from his spot, his smirk still in place. In truth, I was beginning to despise his smirk. And everything about him, actually. Axel just wasn't an easy person to like. Regardless, I ignored him and focused back on Demyx's bubbliness.

"Oh yes, of course! Just listen to… hmm… wait, I've got it!" Bursting at the seams with excitement he scrolled through his I-pod that looked about the size of my hand. After a couple of seconds of searching he finally found what he was looking for and then turned to me, pressing the set of head phones in my direction.

"Look, Demyx, you probably don't have the music I enjoy." I didn't want to associate with these people; that would be helpful for Sora, not me. In order to win this bet, I had to remain detached, not involved with their antics!

"I bet you I do! I have over 8,000 songs on my I-pod, Sora, I'm sure I've got something you like." Demyx shook his head slowly at me and rolled his eyes like I was the idiot. "Music isn't complicated, silly!" He tapped my head. "It's not like those little books and complicated science that you've probably mastered like the back of your hand." He winked and then sidled the head phones closer. "Music's just…music." Seeing my slightly resigned face, he beamed. "All you have to do is just… listen." Passing me the head phones he watched as I yanked them irritably out of his grasp and glared.

"If it will shut you up." I snapped as I put them into my ears. Beaming, Demyx then pressed the play button and I waited for the head banging, screaming, drum soloist metal music that I was convinced that Sora's friends would listen to.

It never came.

It was soft at first, barely a hint of a tune that drifted from one speaker to the other. Slowly, a hint of a flute whispered around and the sound of wind whistled through. A low undertone of barely there instruments began to build into something noticeable. A smooth hum from a woman before a slow and steady drum beat added to the mix. A soft, gentle voice began reverently murmuring the words, an Italian lilt that twisted everything around and made my heart begin to burn.

No.

It wasn't.

"Yeah, I pegged you for the gentle opera styles. A closet artist, I think." Demyx's voice sounded much farther away than before as my blood began to pound and I felt my stomach turn to ice. He couldn't be playing this, could he? And yet, as the chorus hit I almost caught myself beginning to mouth the words along with The Voice, one of my favorite singers of all time.

"I mean, you wouldn't be much of a Beethoven lover, he was too rash and angry, but you didn't seem like the cut my wrists and black my eyes of Hawthorn Heights, and-" Why was this happening to me? I could hardly see the ground right below me as I looked down and tried to keep my gaze away from the group that I was with, trying to wish myself very, very far away as the music played, taunting me and threatening me with every note that the whorish flute played. Why? Why in hell would they be able to know this about me? What was so open about me that Demyx would be able to tell what music I liked?

_"There's something about opera that your mother loves. Personally, I think it's how every opera always ends in tragedy." _

"And I mean, why wouldn't you like it? I think that if I just gave you the CD's then-" I want to run. I want to leave. I want to get as far away from this as I can. Why, _why_ did I let Sora trap me into this bet? Was I really ready to interact with these people and show Sora just how much he needed me to help him from making bad decisions? What made me think that I could do this when my own monsters still followed me wherever I went?

"And then if you're feeling really deadly and just itching to broaden your horizons then I can always let you have a rock opera artist, someone flashy and just attention grabbing; someone like Nightwish! She's got this amazing voice that just makes me-"

"Demyx cut it out." Axel's voice cut through his and successfully stopped his tirade about music. I was hardly aware that they were all suddenly staring at me as I burned holes into the ground with my gaze. I didn't see the way that Axel was giving me a very piercing stare as I numbly pulled the ear phones from my ears and handed them back without a side glance. Demyx's over eagerness was still intact though, and he leaned towards me brightly.

"So, was I right? Did you like Russell Watson or what?!" He demanded with far too much energy. I finally looked up at him, and right behind him I could vaguely see Axel scrutinizing me with an unreadable expression.

"He was adequate." I forced myself to say. "But music's really not in my central interest." Demyx's face fell at that, and I'm positive that Axel's eyes narrowed at my reply, but I didn't care. I would do anything to stop the roaring in my ears. Relief poured through me as the roaring faded and I almost found myself wanting to thank Axel who had inadverantly stopped Demyx from torturing me.

"Oh…I was so sure that I had you pinned! Usually I can pick anyone's favorite just by looking at them!" Demyx shook his head sadly and thumbed through his I-pod absentmindedly. Axel continued to stare at me though, the most peculiar expression on his face. If I was in a better mindset I might have been able to pinpoint what that expression was, but I couldn't. It was almost like a mix between slight surprise, wonder, and then a begrudging pity.

But I wasn't in my right mind, so I must have imagined it.

"You alright there, Sora?" Axel asked me with a raised eyebrow. I turned away from them and continued gazing at the walkway to the school in front of me, my breath squeezing from my lungs painfully as I nodded.

"I've never been better." I lied between clenched teeth.

* * *

_Hit or miss? Let me know in a review!_

_So, there's no excuse for why this is so late... it's just hard to write Roxas in this story. In other ideas he's just such a strong and out there guy while in this one.. gah. Can't explain it!_

_Anywho, please review and let me know if I'm forgiven for neglecting this story! And thanks to Ldrmas for inadvertantly kicking me to finish this up to post it!_

_Much love! :D_

Axel- Man... she must really hate us... putting off our story for basically _months_

Roxas- Oh, it wasn't that long, you just over exaggerate. Like a child.

Axel- At least I'm not the one who listens to opera. Psht, what a baby.

Roxas- I don't see any particular problem with opera, thank you very much!

Axel- Yeah, yeah yeah, you and what army? What about you, Lias, do you like opera?

Lias- I'm not going to lower myself to your level of immaturity... I refuse to pick on Roxas.

Axel- :3 That means yes.


End file.
